Putting all the "we need our arena deal so we can pursue other events" lobbying aside, let's look at the events for which the Greater Columbus Sports Commission apparently is on record as pursuing:- NHL All-Star Game (at Nationwide) in 2013 or 2015 - The bid has been submitted!
- NCAA regional hockey tournament games in 2013
- The Big Ten hockey championship (at Nationwide) in 2013
- The NHL Winter Classic (at Ohio Stadium) in 2015
- The NCAA Frozen Four (at Nationwide) in 2015
2014 appears to be a NCAA basketball bidding year for the Commission.
An All-Star Game? The Winter Classic? College hockey tournaments? Sounds good to me.
I don't see any way possible that Columbus gets a Winter Classic game. The NHL loves its Northeastern teams, and they will be the only ones invited to the dance. No Canadian teams, no sunbelt teams and no recent expansion teams with possibly the exception of Minnesota.
ReplyDeleteIt sucks, but that's just how it is.
I heard a suggestion of a Detroit/Columbus Winter Classic. Presuming that the CBJ would be worth promoting to a national audience by 2015 (a real possibility if they get their acts in order), that could be a good game with lots of tOSU-Michigan overtones that would play well on a football bowl game day.
ReplyDeleteThis is the best non-cbj news I've heard in a long time.
ReplyDeleteBigTen Hockey is a sleeping cash cow. Now only if Notre Dame would wake up and join the BigTen DBJ ;-)
Frozen Four is in PA the next couple years (Pitt & Philly), so why not Ohio?
The All-Star game will help ticket sales (I know we would step up to full season).
Anon -
ReplyDeleteThe way things are going in the football conferences, a B1G membership for Notre Dame wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. And there's the side benefit of the B1G hockey conference, too!
GREAT point about ticket sales and the All-Star Game.