Harvard 6 Cornell 1 ECAC post-game & site critique

[adamw]

The only way to market sports is to win ... That's 95% of it. ... I've worked in sports my whole life, and no amount of marketing tricks will do the job otherwise.  I've worked for some pro GMs who like to think otherwise, and they've always turned out to be wrong.

I think RichH is correct, in essence - but it's not changing.  None of the ECAC schools are becoming "New York State" - so forget that.

So - combination of small market to draw from in the first place - combined with not as strong performances on a national scale...There really is no one to "blame" for this, it's just the way things have evolved.

I also believe attendance at the ECAC Tournament to be related to two additional, perhaps ironic or seemingly contradictory factors:

- the availability of games on TV
- the fact that the ECACs are not the be all, end all awesome thing to win like they used to be

I see this, for example, with HS Football ... In my area, HS football used to draw 6,000 rabid fans to a rivalry game against schools geographically next to each other ... Now, you get like 1,000 people - not as passionate.  That's because a) there's so much more to do, b) people in the suburbs can turn on the TV and see 4,000 college and NFL games from the big city, so they get their fix there, and c) the rise of the State Playoff system, means the local game has less importance.

Rabid fans still tend to be parochial ... but less people are parochial (i.e. care) about their local sports team than they used to.

[CowbellGuy]

Rutgers is an interesting example, as it is the State University of NJ, as everyone from NJ knows, but I wouldn't expect the folksy folks of Iowa to be aware of that.  They would probably get a big boost in revenue by going to an UNJ (or some such permutation) moniker.

Associating yourself with New Jersey is probably the exception to the rule.

[Rosey]

Ironic from someone who argues on most media threads that college hockey is a niche sport that can hope for little more than coverage on a reliable and high-quality internet stream.

I'm not going to go through your post and refute things point-by-point. I'll just say (a) that there is general knowledge in the northeast, even among casual hockey fans, that BU and BC are good at hockey and Harvard and Northeastern are not, (b) that even a number of casual fans some small percentage of which is large enough to fill a 14K arena can be a vanishingly small percentage of the population, thus making a traditional broadcast not economic versus other programming that could fill the same airtime, and (c) you are also overthinking this.

I have no doubt that the dynamic Rich described has something to do with relative interest in the two leagues, but I also know that the ECAC doesn't need to get another 1,000,000 fans to fill a tournament rink, which is why I think some success at the national level would suffice to put more asses in the seats.

[Aaron M. Griffin]

The only way to market sports is to win ... That's 95% of it. ... I've worked in sports my whole life, and no amount of marketing tricks will do the job otherwise.  I've worked for some pro GMs who like to think otherwise, and they've always turned out to be wrong.

I think RichH is correct, in essence - but it's not changing.  None of the ECAC schools are becoming "New York State" - so forget that.

So - combination of small market to draw from in the first place - combined with not as strong performances on a national scale...There really is no one to "blame" for this, it's just the way things have evolved.

I also believe attendance at the ECAC Tournament to be related to two additional, perhaps ironic or seemingly contradictory factors:

- the availability of games on TV
- the fact that the ECACs are not the be all, end all awesome thing to win like they used to be

I see this, for example, with HS Football ... In my area, HS football used to draw 6,000 rabid fans to a rivalry game against schools geographically next to each other ... Now, you get like 1,000 people - not as passionate.  That's because a) there's so much more to do, b) people in the suburbs can turn on the TV and see 4,000 college and NFL games from the big city, so they get their fix there, and c) the rise of the State Playoff system, means the local game has less importance.

Rabid fans still tend to be parochial ... but less people are parochial (i.e. care) about their local sports team than they used to.

I agree with that entirely (I did not mean my one post to contradict that fact) but there are many people in my hometown in Upstate New York (about 90 miles from Ithaca) who do not even know that Cornell has a historically and currently successful hockey program. People need to know that these teams even exist. There are many who do not. The fact that college hockey is still a niche sport hurts opportunities for broader exposure. So, college hockey in general and the ECAC in particular suffer from lack of exposure. I know the logical retort, that the ECAC suffers from a dearth of exposure because it is not successful and no one wants to watch "subpar" hockey on a national stage. The first step is to be successful, far easier said than done, the next step is to use increased revenues to grow the fanbase for increase coverage, merchandise sales, and attendance. The goal should be to make the ECAC Championships an event. The CCHA makes a big deal out of marketing the "CCHA at the Joe" or "Michigan at the Joe," for Michigan in particular. The ECAC and Cornell should follow a similar approach. Other than pamphlets in Bartels Hall and at Red Hot Hockey, what marketing did the ECAC or Cornell do to promote attendance?

[adamw]

The goal should be to make the ECAC Championships an event. The CCHA makes a big deal out of marketing the "CCHA at the Joe" or "Michigan at the Joe," for Michigan in particular. The ECAC and Cornell should follow a similar approach. Other than pamphlets in Bartels Hall and at Red Hot Hockey, what marketing did the ECAC or Cornell do to promote attendance?

It's all the proverbial catch-22 ... Marketing takes money.  When you say that the CCHA makes a big deal out of this ... where do you see them doing this?  Anywhere not within their own TV broadcasts, web site, or press releases?  Billboards in Detroit?  ECAC had billboards in Atlantic City, for what it's worth -- although those were put up by the arena management, for sure.

Next ... Being at a catchy place called "The Joe" - is easy to market when there is such a place to market. "The Joe" itself is an attraction.  What does the ECAC have to work with?  Now we're back to venue discussions.

And ... I don't believe all that marketing is really selling anything anyway.  Fans of the teams go there knowing their teams are good.  Michigan is an enormous school, huge brand in the state, etc... THAT's the attraction.  Not the marketing or anything else.  If Michigan wasn't there, there would be crickets at The Joe.  In fact, take a look at some video from the CCHA championship game.  Lots of empty seats - even with Michigan in the final.

People have been lamenting the attendance at ECAC tournaments since the first one I ever went to - which was the last one in Boston - 1991 ... I've never heard a solution that would work.  At this point, I find it all to be just -- it is what it is.

[RichH]

The only way to market sports is to win ... That's 95% of it. ... I've worked in sports my whole life, and no amount of marketing tricks will do the job otherwise.  I've worked for some pro GMs who like to think otherwise, and they've always turned out to be wrong.

Absolutely.  Americans, despite our voracious appetite for the "underdog/Cinderella" stories, are ridiculous bandwagon/front-runners. We get obsessed over any team, as long as they win.  At Cornell, hockey and lax rules the winter/spring.  Trinity squash matches are known to be rowdy.  UConn Women's basketball often overshadows their Men's team.  

Conversely, when the Frozen Four was in DC, I lamented to a DC resident that it was too bad the Nats didn't have a home weekend scheduled and the response was "why do you want to go see them?? They suck!" However, I'm willing to bet Nationals Park will be a hot ticket if/when the potential Strasburg-Harper era really ramps up, just as when Ovechkin suddenly turned that city into a hockey town.

We support our local teams, but only if they're winners.

Rabid fans still tend to be parochial ... but less people are parochial (i.e. care) about their local sports team than they used to.

At least beeeej does, given his avatar.

[RichH]

I see this, for example, with HS Football ... In my area, HS football used to draw 6,000 rabid fans to a rivalry game against schools geographically next to each other ... Now, you get like 1,000 people - not as passionate.  That's because a) there's so much more to do, b) people in the suburbs can turn on the TV and see 4,000 college and NFL games from the big city, so they get their fix there, and c) the rise of the State Playoff system, means the local game has less importance.

So this leads to another question that's been itching to get out.  What about our own undergraduates?  My location in CT is pretty great to see lots of road games.  I'm within a two-hour drive of 7 of the 12 ECAC arenas, and when you throw in recent OOC games at UMass & UNH, I've been very happy.  What I perceive is a trend of fewer and fewer road-warrior undergrads than what I remember.  It's easy to notice the bandies and cowbell player, but there used to be a solid group of students road-tripping to away arenas who would consolidate and really give us local alumni a shot of energy to help bring a bigger piece of the Lynah atmosphere along.  In Atlantic City, I noticed a few pockets of fans that seemed to be current students or recent graduates, but there certainly didn't seem to be a Section Bs-worth of that demographic.

Is it my imagination? If not, is this a result of some of the reasons adamw ticks off above?   Is the idea of following this team all over the northeast an outdated or too costly endeavor for current students?  Is it that their nefarious Facebook iPad machines and 3D Twitter video games are turning their brains to mush? (OK, the last one was just to keep my curmudgeonly skills sharp.)

I understand that the concept of an online forum is pretty outdated with all the social media tools available.  But I'll say that even here on eLF, with a few notable exceptions, we really don't see a whole lot of undergraduate/young alumni chatter.

Along those lines, I feel like I'm the youngest person still on Hockey-L (which will change during the off-season since I recently got a Hockey-L post titled "Marmaduke of the day." )

[scoop85]

I see this, for example, with HS Football ... In my area, HS football used to draw 6,000 rabid fans to a rivalry game against schools geographically next to each other ... Now, you get like 1,000 people - not as passionate.  That's because a) there's so much more to do, b) people in the suburbs can turn on the TV and see 4,000 college and NFL games from the big city, so they get their fix there, and c) the rise of the State Playoff system, means the local game has less importance.

So this leads to another question that's been itching to get out.  What about our own undergraduates?  My location in CT is pretty great to see lots of road games.  I'm within a two-hour drive of 7 of the 12 ECAC arenas, and when you throw in recent OOC games at UMass & UNH, I've been very happy.  What I perceive is a trend of fewer and fewer road-warrior undergrads than what I remember.  It's obvious to notice the bandies and cowbell player, but there used to be a solid group of students road-tripping to away arenas who would consolidate and really give us local alumni a shot of energy to help bring a bigger piece of the Lynah atmosphere along.  In Atlantic City, I noticed a few pockets of fans that seemed to be current students or recent graduates, but there certainly didn't seem to be a Section Bs-worth of that demographic.

Is it my imagination? If not, is this a result of some of the reasons adamw ticks off above?   Is the idea of following this team all over the northeast an outdated or too costly endeavor for current students?  Is it that their nefarious Facebook iPad machines and 3D Twitter video games are turning their brains to mush? (OK, the last one was just to keep my curmudgeonly skills sharp.)

I understand that the concept of an online forum is pretty outdated with all the social media tools available.  But I'll say that even here on eLF, with a few notable exceptions, we really don't see a whole lot of undergraduate/young alumni chatter.

Along those lines, I feel like I'm the youngest person still on Hockey-L (which will change during the off-season since I recently got a Hockey-L post titled "Marmaduke of the day." )

Good points.  Although this forum remains active, there's clearly far less discussion about the the games themselves -- strategy, analysis, that type of thing. And the undergraduate interest surely seems to have lagged.  I used to enjoy the analysis from undergrads like Ari, Eli and Awash -- no one seems to have followed in their footsteps.

[css228]

I see this, for example, with HS Football ... In my area, HS football used to draw 6,000 rabid fans to a rivalry game against schools geographically next to each other ... Now, you get like 1,000 people - not as passionate.  That's because a) there's so much more to do, b) people in the suburbs can turn on the TV and see 4,000 college and NFL games from the big city, so they get their fix there, and c) the rise of the State Playoff system, means the local game has less importance.

So this leads to another question that's been itching to get out.  What about our own undergraduates?  My location in CT is pretty great to see lots of road games.  I'm within a two-hour drive of 7 of the 12 ECAC arenas, and when you throw in recent OOC games at UMass & UNH, I've been very happy.  What I perceive is a trend of fewer and fewer road-warrior undergrads than what I remember.  It's obvious to notice the bandies and cowbell player, but there used to be a solid group of students road-tripping to away arenas who would consolidate and really give us local alumni a shot of energy to help bring a bigger piece of the Lynah atmosphere along.  In Atlantic City, I noticed a few pockets of fans that seemed to be current students or recent graduates, but there certainly didn't seem to be a Section Bs-worth of that demographic.

Is it my imagination? If not, is this a result of some of the reasons adamw ticks off above?   Is the idea of following this team all over the northeast an outdated or too costly endeavor for current students?  Is it that their nefarious Facebook iPad machines and 3D Twitter video games are turning their brains to mush? (OK, the last one was just to keep my curmudgeonly skills sharp.)

I understand that the concept of an online forum is pretty outdated with all the social media tools available.  But even here on eLF, with a few notable exceptions, we really don't see a whole lot of undergraduate/young alumni chatter.

Along those lines, I feel like I'm the youngest person still on Hockey-L (which will change during the off-season since I recently got a Hockey-L post titled "Marmaduke of the day." )

Among things I can think of:
Expense (especially gas costs)
Easier to follow the team from home (streaming, internet, etc.)
Its just more fun to spend a weekend in Ithaca than Potsdam or Canton, or most of the other locations in the league (this hasn't changed, but it increases the effects of the first two)
I personally enjoy road trips, but the only one I can guarantee other people will join me on is the Harvard-Dartmouth trip. Also I could probably connect this to my general belief that the people who would be the biggest supporters of Cornell Hockey are being priced out (instead of turning RPCC's main floor into a dry frosh only dance club once a month they should just thrown 10 more dollars of everyone's student activities fee into subsidizing season tickets so that they're more affordable) but I'm not going to make that effort.Main point is there's just so many more options for students now. If a few more bars in Ctown shut down and the administration keeps up its persecution of the open party however, maybe we'll see the return of road crowds.

[bnr24]

I see this, for example, with HS Football ... In my area, HS football used to draw 6,000 rabid fans to a rivalry game against schools geographically next to each other ... Now, you get like 1,000 people - not as passionate.  That's because a) there's so much more to do, b) people in the suburbs can turn on the TV and see 4,000 college and NFL games from the big city, so they get their fix there, and c) the rise of the State Playoff system, means the local game has less importance.

So this leads to another question that's been itching to get out.  What about our own undergraduates?  My location in CT is pretty great to see lots of road games.  I'm within a two-hour drive of 7 of the 12 ECAC arenas, and when you throw in recent OOC games at UMass & UNH, I've been very happy.  What I perceive is a trend of fewer and fewer road-warrior undergrads than what I remember.  It's easy to notice the bandies and cowbell player, but there used to be a solid group of students road-tripping to away arenas who would consolidate and really give us local alumni a shot of energy to help bring a bigger piece of the Lynah atmosphere along.  In Atlantic City, I noticed a few pockets of fans that seemed to be current students or recent graduates, but there certainly didn't seem to be a Section Bs-worth of that demographic.

Is it my imagination? If not, is this a result of some of the reasons adamw ticks off above?   Is the idea of following this team all over the northeast an outdated or too costly endeavor for current students?  Is it that their nefarious Facebook iPad machines and 3D Twitter video games are turning their brains to mush? (OK, the last one was just to keep my curmudgeonly skills sharp.)

I understand that the concept of an online forum is pretty outdated with all the social media tools available.  But I'll say that even here on eLF, with a few notable exceptions, we really don't see a whole lot of undergraduate/young alumni chatter.

Along those lines, I feel like I'm the youngest person still on Hockey-L (which will change during the off-season since I recently got a Hockey-L post titled "Marmaduke of the day." )

As a young alumna, I know almost no one last year student-wise could make the trip down to AC for multiple reasons: too far, too expensive (the costs of driving being the biggest deterrent), not enough time to get there for the Friday games.  And as for my friends who are rabid hockey fans currently on the hill, season ticket holders and otherwise, AC just wasn't feasible for them this year.

As far as I could tell at the game, there were VERY few students, especially at the Friday game.  The Saturday game did have a few on the upper level, but overall it was surprising how few students were amongst the fans there.

While a lot of it comes down to money for some students, I know a lot of students who could easily afford it but either can't due to time constraints or other non-monetary reasons.

[Ben]

Among things I can think of:
Expense (especially gas costs)
Easier to follow the team from home (streaming, internet, etc.)
Its just more fun to spend a weekend in Ithaca than Potsdam or Canton, or most of the other locations in the league (this hasn't changed, but it increases the effects of the first two)
I personally enjoy road trips, but the only one I can guarantee other people will join me on is the Harvard-Dartmouth trip. Also I could probably connect this to my general belief that the people who would be the biggest supporters of Cornell Hockey are being priced out (instead of turning RPCC's main floor into a dry frosh only dance club once a month they should just thrown 10 more dollars of everyone's student activities fee into subsidizing season tickets so that they're more affordable) but I'm not going to make that effort.Main point is there's just so many more options for students now. If a few more bars in Ctown shut down and the administration keeps up its persecution of the open party however, maybe we'll see the return of road crowds.

I'd echo all of these points, and add that (at least for me) the success of the women's team  makes sticking around in Ithaca for the weekend seem more fun than hitting the road, but the cost and the time commitment are definitely the biggest factors.

-Edit-

One initiative that could revive the flagging away support (and this won't happen, but it would be nice if it did) would be for the Athletics department or whoever spends our Student Activity Fee to organize a block of tickets, travel arrangements, and perhaps accomodation, for away trips. This would make going away more of a community experience, might reduce costs, and would make the whole process much easier for student-fans.

[jtn27]

I see this, for example, with HS Football ... In my area, HS football used to draw 6,000 rabid fans to a rivalry game against schools geographically next to each other ... Now, you get like 1,000 people - not as passionate.  That's because a) there's so much more to do, b) people in the suburbs can turn on the TV and see 4,000 college and NFL games from the big city, so they get their fix there, and c) the rise of the State Playoff system, means the local game has less importance.

So this leads to another question that's been itching to get out.  What about our own undergraduates?  My location in CT is pretty great to see lots of road games.  I'm within a two-hour drive of 7 of the 12 ECAC arenas, and when you throw in recent OOC games at UMass & UNH, I've been very happy.  What I perceive is a trend of fewer and fewer road-warrior undergrads than what I remember.  It's obvious to notice the bandies and cowbell player, but there used to be a solid group of students road-tripping to away arenas who would consolidate and really give us local alumni a shot of energy to help bring a bigger piece of the Lynah atmosphere along.  In Atlantic City, I noticed a few pockets of fans that seemed to be current students or recent graduates, but there certainly didn't seem to be a Section Bs-worth of that demographic.

Is it my imagination? If not, is this a result of some of the reasons adamw ticks off above?   Is the idea of following this team all over the northeast an outdated or too costly endeavor for current students?  Is it that their nefarious Facebook iPad machines and 3D Twitter video games are turning their brains to mush? (OK, the last one was just to keep my curmudgeonly skills sharp.)

I understand that the concept of an online forum is pretty outdated with all the social media tools available.  But even here on eLF, with a few notable exceptions, we really don't see a whole lot of undergraduate/young alumni chatter.

Along those lines, I feel like I'm the youngest person still on Hockey-L (which will change during the off-season since I recently got a Hockey-L post titled "Marmaduke of the day." )

Among things I can think of:
Expense (especially gas costs)
Easier to follow the team from home (streaming, internet, etc.)
Its just more fun to spend a weekend in Ithaca than Potsdam or Canton, or most of the other locations in the league (this hasn't changed, but it increases the effects of the first two)
I personally enjoy road trips, but the only one I can guarantee other people will join me on is the Harvard-Dartmouth trip. Also I could probably connect this to my general belief that the people who would be the biggest supporters of Cornell Hockey are being priced out (instead of turning RPCC's main floor into a dry frosh only dance club once a month they should just thrown 10 more dollars of everyone's student activities fee into subsidizing season tickets so that they're more affordable) but I'm not going to make that effort.Main point is there's just so many more options for students now. If a few more bars in Ctown shut down and the administration keeps up its persecution of the open party however, maybe we'll see the return of road crowds.

Another deterrent to student travel (and I'm sure this is nothing new) is Ithaca's isolation, and the fact that many students don't have cars. Maybe more students would travel if it was easier (and I don't just mean cost wise).  css, I'm sure you remember that when we went to the Colgate game, we didn't know if we were going until the night before because we couldn't find a ride. Has Cornell ever had a charter bus that follows the team and is organized by the athletic department? They should have one. I bet they could fill up a bus with 50 students for every trip. I would be willing to pay to go on one or two trips next year.

[jtwcornell91]

Next ... Being at a catchy place called "The Joe" - is easy to market when there is such a place to market. "The Joe" itself is an attraction.  What does the ECAC have to work with?  Now we're back to venue discussions.

Destination: Lake Placid!

[css228]

I see this, for example, with HS Football ... In my area, HS football used to draw 6,000 rabid fans to a rivalry game against schools geographically next to each other ... Now, you get like 1,000 people - not as passionate.  That's because a) there's so much more to do, b) people in the suburbs can turn on the TV and see 4,000 college and NFL games from the big city, so they get their fix there, and c) the rise of the State Playoff system, means the local game has less importance.

So this leads to another question that's been itching to get out.  What about our own undergraduates?  My location in CT is pretty great to see lots of road games.  I'm within a two-hour drive of 7 of the 12 ECAC arenas, and when you throw in recent OOC games at UMass & UNH, I've been very happy.  What I perceive is a trend of fewer and fewer road-warrior undergrads than what I remember.  It's obvious to notice the bandies and cowbell player, but there used to be a solid group of students road-tripping to away arenas who would consolidate and really give us local alumni a shot of energy to help bring a bigger piece of the Lynah atmosphere along.  In Atlantic City, I noticed a few pockets of fans that seemed to be current students or recent graduates, but there certainly didn't seem to be a Section Bs-worth of that demographic.

Is it my imagination? If not, is this a result of some of the reasons adamw ticks off above?   Is the idea of following this team all over the northeast an outdated or too costly endeavor for current students?  Is it that their nefarious Facebook iPad machines and 3D Twitter video games are turning their brains to mush? (OK, the last one was just to keep my curmudgeonly skills sharp.)

I understand that the concept of an online forum is pretty outdated with all the social media tools available.  But even here on eLF, with a few notable exceptions, we really don't see a whole lot of undergraduate/young alumni chatter.

Along those lines, I feel like I'm the youngest person still on Hockey-L (which will change during the off-season since I recently got a Hockey-L post titled "Marmaduke of the day." )

Among things I can think of:
Expense (especially gas costs)
Easier to follow the team from home (streaming, internet, etc.)
Its just more fun to spend a weekend in Ithaca than Potsdam or Canton, or most of the other locations in the league (this hasn't changed, but it increases the effects of the first two)
I personally enjoy road trips, but the only one I can guarantee other people will join me on is the Harvard-Dartmouth trip. Also I could probably connect this to my general belief that the people who would be the biggest supporters of Cornell Hockey are being priced out (instead of turning RPCC's main floor into a dry frosh only dance club once a month they should just thrown 10 more dollars of everyone's student activities fee into subsidizing season tickets so that they're more affordable) but I'm not going to make that effort.Main point is there's just so many more options for students now. If a few more bars in Ctown shut down and the administration keeps up its persecution of the open party however, maybe we'll see the return of road crowds.

Another deterrent to student travel (and I'm sure this is nothing new) is Ithaca's isolation, and the fact that many students don't have cars. Maybe more students would travel if it was easier (and I don't just mean cost wise).  css, I'm sure you remember that when we went to the Colgate game, we didn't know if we were going until the night before because we couldn't find a ride. Has Cornell ever had a charter bus that follows the team and is organized by the athletic department? They should have one. I bet they could fill up a bus with 50 students for every trip. I would be willing to pay to go on one or two trips next year.

I definitely remember that. Hitched a ride with the band for the night. Colgate would be a really easy trip for them to buy 200 tickets and organize a few buses, as tickets are pretty cheap, and its not far at all. I'd like to see Ben's idea, but I too have my doubts. I think it could greatly increase the attendance for a Yale-Brown or Union-RPI trip. Would be kind of pointless to use on Q-PAc & Princeton since that's over break, and as much as I enjoyed the North Country, that's always going to be a tough sell because its the North Country and there really isn't anything to do there other than the hockey. I also think that Athletics really should bring back the line to build student enthusiasm, or at least the ticket line equivalent they had my freshman year. I was the lucky winner of the opportunity to sit on the bench during Red-White. Let's just say I was totally sold on Cornell hockey fandom after that experience. I thought it was a mistake not to at least have a similar even this year for seat selection.

[Josh '99]

Next ... Being at a catchy place called "The Joe" - is easy to market when there is such a place to market. "The Joe" itself is an attraction.  What does the ECAC have to work with?  Now we're back to venue discussions.

Destination: Lake Placid!

I think Lake Placid was neglected upthread when Trotsky was brainstorming for places with the potential for "grassroots civic involvement."  The actual community interest in the tournament was one of the great things about LP as a venue (reasonable proximity to Clarkson and SLU presumably being a major factor in that).  Of course, LP had its own disadvantages that we don't need to rehash again here.

If a "destination" is what they want, maybe they should look at having it in Newark.  Unlike MSG, that arena has a decent amount of spare capacity that time of year (and more so in the near future once the Nets move to Brooklyn).  Physically, it's a modern (unlke Albany) NHL-sized (unlike Lake Placid) building that was built with hockey in mind (unlike Atlantic City).  I haven't been inside the behind-the-scenes facilities, but I have to assume they're high-quality.  It's not centrally located like Albany or Hartford, but I think the selection of AC demonstrates that that isn't a primary concern, and it's convenient to a major airport (if that's relevant) and to highways.  And for marketing purposes, if East Rutherford is close enough that the NFL can call it "New York" (for the Giants and the Jets, and presumably for the 2014 Super Bowl) then Newark is close enough that the ECAC can do the same.  Maybe it's ridiculous, but it's a thought.