Yesterday, the Commissioner of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, Bill Robertson discussed the state of his conference with Ryan Stieg of the Mining Journal.<\/p>\n
One of the\u00a0subjects to emerge from the\u00a0interview was the super-tournament. During the first three seasons after realignment, the Big Ten Hockey Conference and the WCHA suffered\u00a0attendance issues during their conference championships. Robertson and others looked at ways to maximize their attendance numbers and revenue streams.<\/p>\n
In March of 2016, to maximize attendance, Robertson suggested that the WCHA, Big Ten, and NCHC\u00a0team up and coordinate their conference tournaments so the three conferences would be in the same city during the same weekend. Ideally, in the same building in the Twin Cities.<\/p>\n
The idea wasn’t acted upon and the BTHC and the WCHA decided to move their entire conference playoffs on campus. Apparently, Robertson\u00a0is still interested in\u00a0this idea.\u00a0Below is the\u00a0conversation I am referring to<\/a>.<\/p>\n WCHA\u2019s future<\/strong><\/p>\n When asked about the future of the league and college hockey as a whole, Robertson has several ideas in mind, including expansion and a possible super-tournament.<\/p>\n \u201cI think eventually we can get to a \u2018super final,’\u201d he said. \u201cOne where we can have all three of the western leagues (WCHA, Big Ten, NCHC) play their games over the course of a weekend in one building.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that it would be a great way to celebrate college hockey and I think they can do the same in the East. It depends on working out the budgets. You could have three games in one day and that would be an automatic qualifier for all three leagues. It\u2019s always been a dream of mine.<\/p>\n \u201cAs far as the league, I\u2019m hopeful that over time, we can eventually add two additional programs, maybe two or more. We would then have divisions within the WCHA.<\/p>\n \u201cWill that happen today? No. Are they things we are looking at in the future? Yes. (Mining Journal<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Back in February of 2016, and to his credit, NCHC Commissioner Josh Fenton didn’t appear all that\u00a0receptive to the idea.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re always open to discussion, that will focus on what\u2019s going to improve the game,\u201d Fenton said. \u201cAnd so if that means some level of championship where we\u2019re all in the same market and we\u2019re trying to attract fans from all over to come and just (say), \u2018Hey, it\u2019s a college hockey weekend\u2019 in whatever market, we\u2019re open to that discussion\u2026 I would have to see how that would work, and what is the model, and how does it all come together.\u201d (Minneapolis CBS<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n "#WCHA<\/a> is in a good place heading into 2017-18 & beyond w\/10 strong & committed institutions." More from Commish: https:\/\/t.co\/nvWx9Flvjn<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/dT6Q0WybJV<\/a><\/p>\n — WCHA Men's Hockey (@WCHA_MHockey) August 3, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n