kansasCowboy said:
One way to get around the money for a rink would be to have the university and city of Laramie join together and build a rec center with a rink, similar to the Rock Springs rec center. Build the rink to hold 2-3k, which would be sufficient. It could be open to the public during off season and even during the season, jus closed to the public during practice and games. That's what they do for HS club hockey in Rock Springs. It would take a few years to pay itself off, but it would be getting paid off whenever its doors were open to the public and attendance for games. And if you bring in opponents like Denver, North Dak and Minnesota people would come. If Denver and North Dak can stretch their attendance from wrestling, basketball and hockey, WYO could aswell. This is something that should be brought to attention at Cowboy Joe Club meetings. Find out what donors and fans are for it and go from there.
Honestly, Laramie is pathetic when it comes to attractions. A city of 30k with no mall, and no rec center. Hardly anything for anyone to do outside of the university.
I would love to see D-I hockey at both UW and CSU. (Budweiser Events center is nearby. I'm not a big fan of the Eagles, but I love college hockey and would like to see games played there.)
Just a small point here. Denver U and UND do not have wrestling. UND draws 11,000+ per hockey game (See the arena here: http://www.theralph.com/the-ralph/video" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ) and about 3000 for basketball. Denver draws about 5000 per hockey game and probably about 3-4000 per basketball game. (that number needs to grow for UND in D-I) Both schools have women's basketball. UND has women's hockey as well. Denver does not.
DU doesn't have the overall community support in the metro area that both UW and UND have. in that respect, I could see Laramie embracing a new D-I hockey program. Yeah, you would need to stretch attendance, but having a rink with only 2 to 3000 seats wouldn't cut it in D-I hockey. You need about 5,000 seats to pull it off. Getting UND and Denver to Laramie for a game would be difficult for a beginning program. Both programs are well established and elite. They might come as a favor to help a beginning program. I've seen that happen. Minnesota? No. They only travel to smaller programs in the state of Minnesota. But, usually a well established program, like the one in Grand Forks, would have a beginning program come there for a weekend series.
UW's biggest concern would be getting into a conference. Air Force plays in the Atlantic Hockey Association. Their games are all with teams from the East. Major travel costs. The WCHA lost major players when Big 10 hockey formed and the NCHC came as a result. Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska Omaha, UND, Colorado College, Denver, Minnesota-Duluth and St. Cloud State all left to join those conferences. Those conferences are out of UW's reach.
If UW could get into the WCHA, which I think would be the best option, there would still be major travel costs. Games would be played as far away as Alaska (Fairbanks and Anchorage), Houghton, Michigan and even at Alabama-Huntsville. But, I think UW could be competitive more quickly in this league.
I think it's do-able. If the money is available to do it. It's not cheap. Hockey is an expensive sport.
