In the wake of the inaugural North Star College Cup, there has been some criticism — mostly constructive — of the tournament. You can read some of the thoughts here and here. There was also a lot of Twitter talk about it (see the timeline at right).
My take? It was a good start for a new event with plenty of room to improve and grow. I would guess 14,000-plus fans for each session was a real positive. As folks get used to the new conferences, the tournament might take on more meaning among the five in-state rivals.
But what did you think? If you attended one, two or four games or even if you watched from the comfort of your living room, send in your thoughts in the comment section below.
4 comments:
I thought for a first time event it was ok. Here are some things I would improve on:
1. Have merchandise available. Many fans were in search of things to buy.
2. Have more concessions available. Many were closed and a lot of fans were looking for more variety.
3. Keep the days as 1 ticket for both games at $40 per day or $80 total, but make the games at 2 and 7 and allow people to leave. Also offer half price tickets to students for upper level tickets.
4. Market it more. Send out mailings to each school's alumni database.
5. Don't have it the same time as the Winter Carnival.
6. Have more fan participation other than the kiss cam. Things like trivia, a dance contest, a dress up contest, etc. Look around at what other places do for hockey games and copy it. By simply looking at what "Works" for other games you could get good ideas. No reason to reinvent the wheel! (on a side note..this should go for MSU home games too!)
7. Lastly...people need to get over the fact that the U of M is always in the tourney. They're the sponsor..and face it, they have the fan base to fill seats at the X. Take them out and the X will likely back out as a venue. While we (as other fan bases) may not like it...it's a fact.
I think it would be nice to have it over the Thanksgiving holiday. Most people have Friday off anyways and I think that may help fill the arena.
I went to all 4 hockey games for the North Star College Cup. Overall it was a really good experience. I agree there needs to be more student involvement. Maybe that's discount tickets and transportation up there. That's what I would do. It would be nice if the first game would start earlier maybe at 3:00 pm and then let people leave the arena between games. The one thing that bugs me about this tournament is the NAME. Just make it the North Star Cup and it would be so much better! Just my opinions.
I was at all four games as well... Not too much to complain about from my perspective, but the overall cost of the weekend would make me think hard about returning year-after-year. There were several areas that could be improved upon for next year (most were already mentioned in earlier comments), but I wasn't outraged by anything.
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