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How hard would it be to add Ice Hockey programs?

Jalapeno said:
Watched the Avs preseason opener last night and it did rekindle my thoughts about CU ice hockey. I looked at Minnesota's ice hockey arena (even the women's team have their own arena!) and it seats nearly 10k. I think CU Ice Hockey will have to have their own arena unless we renovate The Keg (I think that would be the better option) to be able to have hockey. I wouldn't complain if seating for basketball was reduced to about 8-9K if that means we get ice hockey. The tenants of the Keg can go play in Broomfield for a season if necessary.

Someone ought to ask RG that question.
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Sackman-I think part of the issue with the parking might be because they don't do anything but concerts there IIRC. If you put a tenant there, that problem probably gets fixed in a hurry, either with more of it or making that park-n-ride a full-blown light rail station and doing that.
 
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sackman said:
I'm not talking about the first bank center. I'm referring to the Westminster Ice Center.
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I believe that 36 & Church Ranch is the next spot for a depot extension on the NW light rail. There's a ton of construction in that area of Westminster right now and I'd expect that they will have a lot of parking to go along with really good mass transit options.
 
sackman said:
I'm not talking about the first bank center. I'm referring to the Westminster Ice Center.
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Don't know what the seating capacity is for the Westminster Center but it doesn't look close to a D1 hockey facility.

First Bank would be a much more viable venue. Enough seating to generate ticket revenues, parking, easy access from the Denver Metro and from Boulder.
 
MtnBuff said:
Don't know what the seating capacity is for the Westminster Center but it doesn't look close to a D1 hockey facility.

First Bank would be a much more viable venue. Enough seating to generate ticket revenues, parking, easy access from the Denver Metro and from Boulder.
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I was responding to a post that suggested we use the Westminster ice center as an interim site for home games.
 
sackman said:
I was responding to a post that suggested we use the Westminster ice center as an interim site for home games.
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As an interim, it might be better to go with the new one in Superior that seats 871 people. Would be fine for a few years as things got up and running.
 
I know we are just spitballing, but adding a D1 Ice Hockey program is at the VERY top of my CU sports wishlist.
 
Gary Indiana said:
I know we are just spitballing, but adding a D1 Ice Hockey program is at the VERY top of my CU sports wishlist.
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My #1 would actually be Men's Lacrosse. Mostly because we don't have a men's spectator sport in the spring and need one. If Ice Hockey was played in the spring instead of being a basketball/volleyball overlap, I'd be right there with you.
 
First Bank seats about 6,000 for hockey. It is close enough to Boulder that it could be a long term home for the program. Other than those who live on or close to campus it would likely take the same or less time to get to and into that a facility on or near campus would. It would be much more convenient to fans in the north metro area.

I'd love to see CU have hockey, I don't see a building getting built for games. I could see a practice facility being built but not an arena. First Bank would let them build a solid program.
 
Gary Indiana said:
If this happened it would be great for Front Range college athletics. I am imagining an ICEbreaker or Beanpot like tournament with CU, DU, CC, and AFA all playing for an annual trophy.
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Buffnik said:
My #1 would actually be Men's Lacrosse. Mostly because we don't have a men's spectator sport in the spring and need one. If Ice Hockey was played in the spring instead of being a basketball/volleyball overlap, I'd be right there with you.
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As much as I'm having a hard on for hockey right now, I agree 1000% with Nik here. Baseball is not going to happen unless we build a domed stadium which ain't going to happen.
 
The viability of hockey depends on whether or not the NCHC would let CU into the conference. I assume they would, since the pairing of road games (with DU) for the other teams would make sense, but you never know. It's a stout conference obviously and it would be a while until a CU team was competitive. Not sure if it makes sense economically.
 
PAHIBuff said:
The viability of hockey depends on whether or not the NCHC would let CU into the conference. I assume they would, since the pairing of road games (with DU) for the other teams would make sense, but you never know. It's a stout conference obviously and it would be a while until a CU team was competitive. Not sure if it makes sense economically.
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College hockey is scheduled more like college baseball than college basketball. Weekend trips with two games played against the same opponent. Travel partners in the basketball sense are not a concern.
 
torerobuff said:
College hockey is scheduled more like college baseball than college basketball. Weekend trips with two games played against the same opponent. Travel partners in the basketball sense are not a concern.
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Thanks. I learned something today. On Allbuffs. Wow.
 
Jalapeno said:
https://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2018/01/17_Arizona-State-Closing-In.php

ASU is closing on a $80M arena that would seat 5,000 right next to the basketball arena. Seems like that would be the approximate cost to set up a hockey program at CU.
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This is where they benefit from all the Canadian snowbirds who retire there half the year. Same dynamic that made it viable to have an NHL team in Phoenix. CU would seem to have a built-in fanbase as a place that likes its winter sports as part of the state's culture.
 
Buffnik said:
This is where they benefit from all the Canadian snowbirds who retire there half the year. Same dynamic that made it viable to have an NHL team in Phoenix. CU would seem to have a built-in fanbase as a place that likes its winter sports as part of the state's culture.
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The state already sustains three D1 hockey programs. Outside of the northeast, only Michigan and Minnesota have more.

I'm not bringing this up in a "market is saturated" way, but rather to note that there is already strong state support for the sport that would only be bolstered by the flagship university entering the arena.

I don't think finding a conference would be too hard. This year ASU is playing as an independent; I'm not sure where they'll land, but I'd be surprised if they find a home in a year or two.

CC and DU both currently play in the NCHC, AFA in Atlantic Hockey, and CC and DU were members of the WCHA in the past (left in 2013) - so Colorado is definitely within the "footprint" of three different conferences.

The NCHC was formed when the B1G started sponsoring men's hockey. Minnesota and Wisconsin left the WCHA and Michigan, MSU, and tOSU left the CCHA. (Penn State had added men's hockey, bringing the B1G to 6 teams and viability as a men's hockey conference.)

The NCHC was born out of that mess, and they were deliberately trying to counterweight the B1G in terms of hockey quality. It's currently at 8 teams.

The WCHA is at 10 teams, and Atlantic Hockey at 11.

Given that the founding members of the NCHC were all abandoned by several P5 schools having their main conference sponsor hockey, there might be some history to overcome there. They also specifically included an "institutional commitment to competing at the highest level" as a criteria for membership and given that the 8 schools have won a collective 19 natties (including the last 2) it may be hard to get in the door with them. But money talks.

Lastly, the ASU AD, when he announced that they were launching hockey indicated that other P12 schools were interested. He also said that he could see P12 sponsoring the sport at some point (would require 6), which again, probably actually hurts hopes of P12 schools landing in the NCHC. On the other hand, he doesn't work for ASU anymore, so who really knows?
 
the economics don't make any sense when you can bring lax in for close to nothing in capital expenditures.
 
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Fight CU said:
the economics don't makes any sense when you can bring lax in for close to nothing in capital expenditures.
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I agree.

I think our best (only?) hope would be if Denver gets the 2026 winter olympics and CU ties it in with the facilities build-out for that. Metro would need more ice, I think.
 
Buffnik said:
I agree.

I think our best (only?) hope would be if Denver gets the 2026 winter olympics and CU ties it in with the facilities build-out for that. Metro would need more ice, I think.
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Not sure we would need more ice - you have Broomfield Event Center, Magness Arena and Pepsi Center, plus the Olympic facilities in Colorado Springs and Budweiser Event Center in Loveland. And I assume Colorado College has a rink with seating... does AFA?
 
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dio said:
Not sure we would need more ice - you have Broomfield Event Center, Magness Arena and Pepsi Center, plus the Olympic facilities in Colorado Springs and Budweiser Event Center in Loveland. And I assume Colorado Christian has a rink with seating... does AFA?
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Colorado College?
 
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CC plays at the World Arena in Colorado Springs, I think in its hockey format, they can seat around 8 or 9k; AFA plays at the cadet field house where they have a dedicated space (been there for games a couple times, but a long, long time ago - foggy memory says it should seat about 3,500 +/-).
 
Buffnik said:
I agree.

I think our best (only?) hope would be if Denver gets the 2026 winter olympics and CU ties it in with the facilities build-out for that. Metro would need more ice, I think.
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Metro Denver wouldnt need any more ice. Magness, Pepsi, Collisseum, and Firstbank Center would be more than adequate.
 
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