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Ok, I'm not going to continue the argument of which is better, or do we need 2 tournaments, that fight will go on till the end of time, or till U18 Prep teams take over...The question I have is, does the MSHSL have any concern than the morning session of the AA tournament had considerably more fans that both the morning and evening sessions of the A tournament had on Wednesday? I know this to be fact, because a friend of mine who is a member of the MSHSL has told so. I have no way to substatiate those numbers so believe it or not. But for the sake of argument assume that this morning/afternoon doubled in attendence what took place all day yesterday. ***Remember, for the sake of argument those of you who don't think those numbers are correct.

I am curious from a finacial standpoint, while I know that the boys hockey tournament generates most of the revenue to run the MSHSL for the year, should attendence at the A tournament be concerning due to the high cost of rental at the Excel Center? In addition, if the MSHSL could generate even more money by holding the A quarterfinal and possibly even the semi-final games at another, smaller venue, should they or would they?

The main reason Class A has horrible attendance is 5 of the 8 teams are Private schools in the 1A field. these teams have no Fan base or cities to rally behind them. Force them to go 2A and we'll have more teams like Hibbing I'Falls etc, As a hockey fan i can't force myself to go watch DM vs STA. why would i wanna watch Prep's on scholarships.

1A will always be a joke till they fix this.

Thats been brought up for afew years now. I am not sure but I would put money on the fact that A still brings in enough money to keep in down at the excel. By no means will it ever bring in the money AA does for acouple reasons. More people for the most part are in the AA towns. Plus it is a bigger draw for the city people. I think its fine keeping it in the cities, but if it was to move, how about the Ralph in TRF? Thats a place that should hold a big tourney like the A

cjp8816 wrote:The main reason Class A has horrible attendance is 5 of the 8 teams are Private schools in the 1A field. these teams have no Fan base or cities to rally behind them. Force them to go 2A and we'll have more teams like Hibbing I'Falls etc, As a hockey fan i can't force myself to go watch DM vs STA. why would i wanna watch Prep's on scholarships.

1A will always be a joke till they fix this.

As it is now the MSHSL has an objective standard (attendance) for splitting the two classes, yet you want to "force" certain schools to play 2A based on what?

The 1A Tourney should be played in conjunction with the Girls Tourney. Make one weekend of games played in too large of venue - rather than draw it out.

Seriously, 1A should be played up north.

K Dope wrote:Seriously, 1A should be played up north.

That would probably make attendance worse

komada77 wrote:

K Dope wrote:Seriously, 1A should be played up north.

That would probably make attendance worse

that would ruin all the hype for the northern school to "come to St. Paul" for the state tournament and that type of thing.

there are private schools in AA that don't bring a lot fans or as much as the public schools.

Why would you want to split it up, its a great long weekend packed with hockey, 16 schools/towns bringing fans to the state capital playing at one of the best sporting venues in the country. Teams want to make it to state to play at the X and be in the atmosphere. I and sure financially it is no big deal. The MNSHSL gets the X for two days of girls dance state, and it gets no where near the attendance. Why change the best high school tournament in the country?

DmnHawk5 wrote:...Why change the best high school tournament in the country?

A valid point.......back in 1991 when they went to two classes.

The thing I think of if you were to have a one class tournament is of course if you only had one tourney than maybe Anoka, Elk River, Andover could play against teams from their conferences at the end of the year.

How good would a section 7 final be between D. East and Marshall.....

Bottom line it's never going to go back to a one class tournament, but the question is...is it financially responsible to keep the A tournament at the Excel Center if they lose money on that portion of the tournament.

wannagototherink wrote:

DmnHawk5 wrote:...Why change the best high school tournament in the country?

How good would a section 7 final be between D. East and Marshall.....

I'm thinking it wouldn't be half as good as a section 7 final with East vs Cloquet or GR.

Right. I went to watch volleyball one year and it was dead. As long as it's affordable, people just want to be able to play there.

I dont think we should be worried about class A losing money considering one session of class A is the total attendance for the girls state tourney, its a joke they let them play at the x...personally I wouldnt want to play in an empty building. At leas class A can generate a good amount of people for the lower bowl.

Back to the original question. Why not have the A tourney at Marriucci? Hold it in the afternoon's so it doesnt conflict if the Gophers have a home game, all A and AA games can then still be on TV, and 10,000 seat Marriucci is about the best class A has ever drawn.

If the concern is money, then yes the A should be at Marriucci.

More privates in AA will hurt attendance, Thursday afternoons wasn't very big compared to normal, there were a few empty seats this evening as well. Luckily Edina and Roseau are being looked on by everyone as the game of the year so that will bring people in Friday so they can watch to seee if that happens.

I won't go to a BSM/Hill final Saturday it's not worth the gas and I know in my seating area a lot share that sentiment.

goldy313 wrote:If the concern is money, then yes the A should be at Marriucci.

More privates in AA will hurt attendance, Thursday afternoons wasn't very big compared to normal, there were a few empty seats this evening as well. Luckily Edina and Roseau are being looked on by everyone as the game of the year so that will bring people in Friday so they can watch to seee if that happens.

I won't go to a BSM/Hill final Saturday it's not worth the gas and I know in my seating area a lot share that sentiment.

Goldy your an idiot...

K Dope wrote:The 1A Tourney should be played in conjunction with the Girls Tourney.

Did you just compare boys hockey to girls hockey? lol

goldy313 wrote:
I won't go to a BSM/Hill final Saturday it's not worth the gas and I know in my seating area a lot share that sentiment.

I cant believe you really feel that way.

From watching this Duluth/Warroad game on tv, it seems as though the lower bowl is filled for the most part and I'm willing to bet the club level and upper deck have some people in them. So to move this event to a smaller venue doesn't work.

This topic is freaking stupid. Are you some girls parent that decided to raise this issue in here because the girls can't fill the X? Keep these venue changes on the girls forum.

$38 a trip in gas. No, not worth it to watch those teams. I have no interest in either, the atmosphere will be terrible, and I lose an hour of sleep Saturday. Watching Benilde hook anything that moves and Hill clucth and grab isn't my idea of good hockey.

packerboy wrote:

goldy313 wrote:
I won't go to a BSM/Hill final Saturday it's not worth the gas and I know in my seating area a lot share that sentiment.

I cant believe you really feel that way.

If I had the option, (which I don't), I wouldn't go to a BSM-Hill final either.

State Champ 97 wrote:

packerboy wrote:

goldy313 wrote:
I won't go to a BSM/Hill final Saturday it's not worth the gas and I know in my seating area a lot share that sentiment.

I cant believe you really feel that way.

If I had the option, (which I don't), I wouldn't go to a BSM-Hill final either.

Its a good thing everbody isnt so pickey.

I dont have any connection to big rich suburban schools nor am I all that caught up in the witto northern school "mystique" which is nothing more than media hype.

But if that's who is there , Ill go no matter what.

You guys need to get past it.

packerboy wrote:

State Champ 97 wrote:

packerboy wrote: I cant believe you really feel that way.

If I had the option, (which I don't), I wouldn't go to a BSM-Hill final either.

Its a good thing everbody isnt so pickey.

I dont have any connection to big rich suburban schools nor am I all that caught up in the witto northern school "mystique" which is nothing more than media hype.

But if that's who is there , Ill go no matter what.

You guys need to get past it.

It isn't even so much of that. Ok a little bit, but primarily I don't have way to connect to those teams at all. Will it be good hockey? Probably. Still not as interesting as a lot of other matchups for me. JMO.

How is having them at the X costing them money? It's during the week where the AA tourney is, so the X isn't going to be used for anything. Also, paying to use another venue would only cost more.

Also, they play the A tourney during the day. You think that has nothing to do with the attendance? Private schools may not have a city (which isn't always true) to back them, but they have plenty of family, alumni, students and parents. Attendance would go up a lot, maybe not fill the X but still go up, if the games weren't during the day.

Da Champ wrote:Ok a little bit, but primarily I don't have way to connect to those teams at all.

Champ, about 25% of the people in our state are Catholics. A lot of that 25 % send their kids to Catholic schools.

Do you really think a lot of us give a flying flip about Edina or Roseau or Section 1?

If most of us turn on the TV and hear another stupid bleepin feature about how charming this or that poor witto school is, we'll gag.

But if thats who is in the final, we will be there. Maybe it will take until the middle of the 2nd period for some of us to figure out who to root for, but we'll be there.

We'll be there cuz its High School Hockey. Doesnt matter the schools.

Are you kidding me??????? The attendence thing forr the A tourny is exactly what cjp8816 said it was. Who is there to root for these teams except their families? Get any other schools in there and the place would be full with students, families and community supporters.