MINNEAPOLIS, Minn – In March of 2012, the Big Ten Conference Commissioner formally announced the creation of the new Big Ten Hockey Conference. This decision has been in development for years, but with Penn State University making the decision to move hockey from a club level sport to a varsity sport in 2013-2014 it pushed the hand of the Big Ten Commissioner to start the new league.
The other motivating factor for the rush to form a new Big Ten Hockey League is financial. Every year Big Ten teams play in the CCHA (Central Collegiate Hockey Association) and the WCHA (Western Collegiate Hockey Association). Every year the CCHA and WCHA conferences receive millions of dollars in TV revenue from the regular season games and the conference championship tournament games. The Big Ten Conference has always held the mindset that if anyone is going to make money from Big Ten athletic teams it is going to be them. Is this the correct rationale in entering into a new league? The decision should be based on what is best for the student-athlete and NCAA hockey as a whole.
From a competitive standpoint, there is a real concern this new Big Ten Hockey conference will not offer the same caliber of play that teams such as Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota and Wisconsin enjoy. In six of the past eleven years either Minnesota, Michigan, Michigan State, or Wisconsin have played in the Frozen Four Championship game. More NHL players have been drafted from the CCHA and WCHA Conference than any other NCAA conference. The CCHA and the WCHA are considered two of the powerhouse hockey college conferences in the country today.
One might argue that the Big Ten Network will make college hockey more accessible to the public and will drive revenue to the Big Ten conference, but will that exposure lead to a higher level of Big Ten college hockey athletics and higher caliber of play? We all know that nothing drives ratings more than the image of two rival college hockey programs involved in a ruckus at center ice. Will the big Ten network go that route in order to improve ratings?
At what point will Northwestern, Illinois, Iowa or Indiana move their club programs up the NCAA varsity level?
Will that decision further water down the new Big Ten Hockey conference?
In the 2011-2012 season, the NCAA College Hockey indoor games with the highest attendance were the North Dakota vs. Minnesota and Minnesota Duluth vs. Minnesota games. The attendance at these two games exceeded attendance at the Frozen Four Championship game in 2012. In the new conference alignment these two games would disappear from the schedule. When North Dakota played Minnesota in 2012 the game was represented by a combined ten collegiate players who have been drafted by NHL teams.
When Penn State plays Ohio State in 2013 there will be a total of zero NHL drafted players on those two teams.
How will this new format help NCAA hockey? It won’t. The main beneficiary of the new Big Ten Hockey Conference will be higher ratings on the Big Ten Network and higher revenue to the Big Ten Conference.
As a follower of NCAA hockey, I will travel to wherever college hockey is played, but I would hope for the sake of the sport that conference re-alignment does not permantely change the landscape of college hockey.
Comment@prohockeynews.com
Follow us on Twitter @prohockeynews
You must be logged in to post a comment.