Frozen Four Impact on Detroit

[French777]

Compared to the Final Four. . .How much economic activity would the Frozen Four generate?

- Would the Downtown Hotels be booked?
- Another AT&T Block Party? Ha

[Mackinaw]

It's hard for anything short of the Super Bowl to compare to the Final Four, but this will be big. It should fill downtown hotels, will certainly bring side-events with it, and if the right teams are there [[e.g. Michigan, OSU, ND, MSU), it will be a total circus.

[Zulu Warrior]

The NBA All Star Game is as big or bigger than the Fnal Four

[alsodave]

Final Four, Super Bowl, NBA All-Star Game--all have strong national [[and international) followings. College hockey, like interest in the NHL, has always struck me as a regional sport.

[bibs]

According to channel 7 WXYZ, the 71 year old attendance record for the Final Four was broken in Detroit with 72,000 in attendance. Because of all the doom and gloom, it looks like everyone in the Detroit Metro area was looking for something to cheer about and cheer they did!

[MrNittany]

Compared to the Final Four. . .How much economic activity would the Frozen Four generate?

- Would the Downtown Hotels be booked?
- Another AT&T Block Party? Ha

Depends on the teams to a large extent. Hockey's regional, basketball's national. As someone else said ... UM, MSU, ND, Minnesota, OSU, Wisky ... large crowds.

You get this year's bunch [[playing in Washington DC next weekend), however ... Boston U, Vermont, Bemidji State, and Miami University. Kinda ugly in terms of national interest and traveling crowds. [[Miami would probably have the "largest" contingent if it were in Detroit)

[Atticus]

The NCAA is taking Bids for the next set of Frozen Four sites. No mention of Detroit making a bid in the article linked below. Somewhat surprising given the new arena on the way.

Maybe the media doesn't cover it as much, but it seems like Detroit doesn't bid for these events as much... or at least as strongly as other comparable cities. Kind of a shame, as a lot of tourist dollar opportunities are being missed.

http://www.sbncollegehockey.com/2016...ee-omaha-tampa

[SpartanDawg]

The NCAA is taking Bids for the next set of Frozen Four sites. No mention of Detroit making a bid in the article linked below. Somewhat surprising given the new arena on the way.

Maybe the media doesn't cover it as much, but it seems like Detroit doesn't bid for these events as much... or at least as strongly as other comparable cities. Kind of a shame, as a lot of tourist dollar opportunities are being missed.

http://www.sbncollegehockey.com/2016...ee-omaha-tampa

Detroit recently bid on, unsuccesfully, the 2018 or 2019 College football national championship game.. i forget which year.

Basically what it came down to was the week the game was scheduled was during the auto show so Cobo center would be unavailable for events for the playoff, which was a no no. Detroit tried to persuade them and say that the new wings arena would be made available, but to no avail.

i believe san franciso got the bid that year perhaps? or maybe it was new orleans.. oh well

would love love love to see the national CFB champ game here sometime if it landed on a week the NAIAS wasn't in town

[DetroitSoldier]

I have traveled to 10 frozen fours in the last 30 years including the three held in Detroit and I can say that while the impact from media exposure is significantly less than other sports, the financial boost to hotel and restaurants is absolutely measureable.

The unique part about the Frozen Four vs the Final Four or even the CFP is that the Frozen Four has a huge following from fans of teams that are not even playing in the tournament. At the 2007 Frozen Four in St. Louis and again at the 2010 event at Ford Field, I was able to identify a jersey from every single division 1 program. People who follow college hockey make this annual pilgrimage regardless of the quality of their team. This makes it fairly unique amongst college sporting events.

So the hotels and restaurants will be boosted by 20,000+ visitors for a Wednesday-Sunday schedule and visitors will be going home to 60 different cities around the country and telling their friends and family about their experience. To me this makes it a worthwhile event to throw in a bid for.

[emu steve]

The NCAA is taking Bids for the next set of Frozen Four sites. No mention of Detroit making a bid in the article linked below. Somewhat surprising given the new arena on the way.

Maybe the media doesn't cover it as much, but it seems like Detroit doesn't bid for these events as much... or at least as strongly as other comparable cities. Kind of a shame, as a lot of tourist dollar opportunities are being missed.

http://www.sbncollegehockey.com/2016...ee-omaha-tampa

http://www.sbncollegehockey.com/2016...ee-omaha-tampa

Unless I didn't read this article carefully, all of the references to completed bids was done in 2013, at which time Detroit would not have had definitive plans for the new arena plus a few cities which would be interested in the NEXT ROUND of bids.

I don't consider the article exhaustive, i.e., when the next round of bids will be [[date), they will be for Frozen Fours in years [[specify) and cities which are expected to bid are [[specify).

I see nothing in this article to suggest that Detroit won't be in the mix for future Frozen Fours.

A much better article could have led with: [[Date) the NCAA will convene to consider bids and award host bids for the 2019 [[?) through 20xx Frozen Four hockey tourney. Cities expected to bid include... [[specifiy).

Milwaukee... [[expected to bid).

Tampa Bay... [[expected to bid).

Etc.

[emu steve]

Detroit recently bid on, unsuccesfully, the 2018 or 2019 College football national championship game.. i forget which year.

Basically what it came down to was the week the game was scheduled was during the auto show so Cobo center would be unavailable for events for the playoff, which was a no no. Detroit tried to persuade them and say that the new wings arena would be made available, but to no avail.

i believe san franciso got the bid that year perhaps? or maybe it was new orleans.. oh well

would love love love to see the national CFB champ game here sometime if it landed on a week the NAIAS wasn't in town

I would hope NCAA basketball would be a hope with early rounds at the new arena OR Final Four at Ford Field.

[MSUguy]

Detroit absolutely bids on these events. Last year Cobo hosted the USA Volleyball championship. LCA is scheduled to host the first round games 2018 NCAA Tournament. Detroit is also bidding to host the 2018 US figure skating championship at LCA.

[Atticus]

Detroit absolutely bids on these events. Last year Cobo hosted the USA Volleyball championship. LCA is scheduled to host the first round games 2018 NCAA Tournament. Detroit is also bidding to host the 2018 US figure skating championship at LCA.

I know the city has and will host these types of events, it just seems that Detroit does not host as many of these events as it reasonably should compared to others.

Cities like Indy, Nashville, St. Louis, Cleveland, have all recently hosted the Women's NCAA final four. Detroit has never. When the the Men's final four sites went out to bid in 2014 for the 2017-2021 men's final fours, Detroit didn't really bid [[which is why I am concerned they didn't bid for the Frozen Four). Detroit has also never hosted the Big Ten basketball tournament, but I realize conference politics may play into that particular decision.

Given how much the city has changed in just the last few years, events like these are also great ways to bring outsiders in to see all the positive improvements that have been made, in addition to the tourist dollars being spent.

[emu steve]

It's hard for anything short of the Super Bowl to compare to the Final Four, but this will be big. It should fill downtown hotels, will certainly bring side-events with it, and if the right teams are there [[e.g. Michigan, OSU, ND, MSU), it will be a total circus.

Detroit is trying!!! And circle these dates on your calendars:

"Host finalists will be announced Oct. 26 and the final venues will be announced Dec. 7. "

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/spo...hips/88762628/

[emu steve]

should have included this article, too:

http://www.freep.com/story/sports/co...ncaa/88755152/

[Atticus]

should have included this article, too:

http://www.freep.com/story/sports/co...ncaa/88755152/

Thank you for the updates on this! Hopefully many of the bids are successful.