A TV contract for Colorado College’s new conference will be announced within the next three weeks, and the NBC Sports Network, formerly called Versus, as well as Fox Sports regional affiliates have emerged as legitimate competition for CBS Sports Network.
National Collegiate Hockey Conference commissioner Jim Scherr (above) told CC play-by-play man Ken Landau of the timetable for the eight-team league that will begin in the 2013-14 season during Tigers coach Scott Owens’ radio show Tuesday on 103.9 FM RXP. A total of 75 games are being broadcast this season on Fox College Sports, Fox Sports North and Fox Sports stations in Colorado, Michigan and Wisconsin; NBC Sports Network has 16 games, including the Hockey East Tournament; and CBS Sports Network has 23 games.
Before Scherr was appointed last week as the NCHC’s first commissioner, an agreement with CBS Sports Network for 16 games was thought of as imminent. Earlier Tuesday, on a USCHO.com radio show, Scherr said the TV deal will offer “uniform exposure across the conference,” adding the NCHC will “have a strong package for the conference and be able to give exposure to all the teams, not just those who have enjoyed it in the past.”
The inaugural NCHC Tournament – rumored to be held at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., the site of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Final Five in March – no doubt will be carried by the conference’s TV partner. Scherr didn’t confirm St. Paul as the 2014 site with USCHO.com, saying only that the event will be held at a “geographic location that makes sense for the fan bases to get there and support their teams.”
A 24-game league schedule – down from 28 league games in the WCHA – remains likely for the NCHC, but “there’s nothing definitive to announce,” Scherr told Landau. Scherr also told USCHO.com that an officiating director will be among his first hires, in addition to a hockey operations director and a public relations director. “If we don’t make the right hires, it’s all on me,” Scherr said, noting he talked Tuesday with USA Hockey executive director Dave Ogrean about how “to build relationships with the people in the sport.”
Contact Brian Gomez: 719-636-0256 or brian.gomez@gazette.com. Facebook: Brian Gomez. Twitter: @gazettehockey. Google+: Brian Gomez. YouTube: Colorado College Hockey, Covered by The Gazette. For the CC hockey homepage, visit www.gazette.com/sections/sports/cchockey. For the CC hockey blog, visit http://cchockey.freedomblogging.com.
With the Gophers in the BigTen, can someone explain why the NCHC tournament would be in St Paul? Only two of the NCHC teams are going to be in MN as far as I know and they are both at least 2 hours away from the xcel center. Both ND and COS have large capacity arenas with larger sheets of ice that would be great venues. I guess I don’t understand the NCHC wants to send the revenue around the tournament to a city whose school is off to make the big bucks in the big ten. Shouldn’t that money go to a local community of a school that’s actually taking the risk in forming conference???
Scott, I think the NCHC’s desire is to have the conference tournament at a neutral site. It is a bit odd holding it at a place where the nearest school is more than an hour away; St. Cloud is about 90 minutes from St. Paul, and Duluth is about 2 ½ hours from St. Paul. But if you play the tournament at North Dakota or at World Arena or at Pepsi Center or at the Qwest Center in Omaha (that’s where I personally would like to see it held) then it’s not a neutral site, then you’re overridden with fans from one team. The revamped WCHA, for instance, is rumored to be looking at Grand Rapids as the site for their conference tournament in 2014. If you put the NCHC event in St. Paul, you’ll still have a lot of St. Cloud State fans, a lot of Minnesota-Duluth fans and a lot of North Dakota fans, probably even some Nebraska-Omaha fans, who make the trip. I still don’t think they’ll have any problems selling the place out, assuming those teams are in it. And it wouldn’t surprise me if the tournament moves around a bit to other cities after the first year.
Thanks Brian. I get the neutral location argument – but the WCHA tournaments in St Paul are lopsided with Gopher and Souix fans and are still a success. I guess I’m with you in that a location like Omaha would be great. Holding the tournament in a team’s city does more than bring in hotel/restaurant money during the tournament, it also gets the local population more into their team the whole season and beyond. A new conference needs to be doing all it can to make hockey profitable for the smaller schools that will be in the NCHC and a big part of that is getting more local excitement about the team to fill arenas. That should trump neutrality of the location – especially in the first few years of the conference.
As a Minnesota resident and CC grad, I am thrilled that the NCHC tournament is at the Excel Center for the first year. It’s a great venue, with Mancini’s Char House, Cosetta’s Italian Deli, The Liffey Irish Pub and other great restaurants and establishments in the area. Nevertheless, the tournament should be rotated thru other big city arenas like Qwest Center in Omaha and Pepsi Center in Denver too. Trying to come up with a good location near or between Miami/Ohio and Western Michigan is tougher (Toledo, Cincinnati???)
I’m wondering why Pepsi Center would not be a “neutral” site…Denver Pioneers do not play there. I know UNO has shown interest in building an on-campus arena, so therefore, the Qwest Center would also be available. I would guess, at some point in the future, that the NCHC tournament would rotate between St. Paul, Omaha, and Denver, if the desire is to have a neutral site. If campus sites are deemed acceptable, I would say Grand Forks would most definitely be in the mix, and perhaps Duluth and Colorado Springs, too.
How bout rotate every year, between Denver Pepsi Center and Twin Cities XCel Center. And I wouldn’t mind Omaha in the mix, if UNO ever gets an on-campus facility, then play in big Arena for conference tourney.
All sites would be successful. This conference is going to ROCK!
[...] College beat writer Joe Paisley had posted this as well in one of his weekly Gazette chats. Brian Gomez, Gazette.com — A TV contract for Colorado College’s new conference will be announced within the next [...]
To posters above.
The “Qwest Center in Omaha” hasn’t been called that for several months. It’s now the Centurylink Center since they bought out Qwest.
[...] blog about CC moving to eighth in both national polls; a photo gallery of Tigers fans; a blog about a TV contract for the NCHC coming in the next three weeks; a story about Jaden Schwartz returning to full strength after world [...]
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