Is it time for a new Portland arena?

[Lrfox]

Providence is perhaps the best location for an NCAA tourney in New England. One hour from Boston and 3 from NYC along Interstate 95. Also, home to 4 prominent colleges and a basketball venue that seats 12,000.

It's a great experience. We went to Session 1 last Thursday. But considering the popularity of the tournament, I wonder how much longer the AMP is going to meet the criteria for hosting. It's very much on the smaller end.

PWMFlyer, your list of future cities and venues does show one site that is a little puzzling. Fargo (113K) is technically a larger city than Portland (70K) but its metropolitan count is less than half of greater Portland. Also, the Scheels Arena only has a hockey capacity of 5000 which is 1500 less than the Cross Insurance Arena but is 28 years newer. I do know that the passion for hockey at the University of North Dakota is equivalent if not higher than it is at UMaine so maybe a new 10000 seat arena could earn Portland a future host spot in the hockey regionals. And even though the SNHU Arena in Manchester is larger and newer I have a feeling that the participating colleges and their fan bases would prefer to spend a week in Portland at a smaller venue.

Yeah, that one's curious. Fargo is a vibrant (and very fast growing) little city, but it's pretty tiny. UND is almost 90 miles away from Fargo too.

One of the things about the NCAA Hockey Tournament is that geographic diversity is a challenge. Most venues are concentrated in the Northeast and Midwest. So Fargo may get points for being outside of that area. Portland has a whole lot more competition in the Northeast. But I still think money is the biggest factor for the hockey tourney. If UMaine were willing to pony up to host in Portland, they'd probably get it. But it doesn't sound like the will is there. It would undoubtedly be a better host city than Manchester, Loveland, Worcester, Springfield, and possibly others.

 

[PWMFlyer]

The one puzzling venue that I don't see that often is Hartford (XCel Center) which UConn and Quinnipiac could host. Bridgeport is also a surprise that I would not visit without a sidearm LOL as with Springfield after dark. Maybe the NCAA thinks we are not a state or UMaine actually is not a D1 school ..LOL

 

[markhb]

If Bryant could get a varsity team going then Providence could have it's own Beanpot with them, Brown, Providence College and URI (which plays in a non-NCAA conference). Maybe call it the Coffee Milk Jug!

 

[Lrfox]

If Bryant could get a varsity team going then Providence could have its own Beanpot with them, Brown, Providence College and URI (which plays in a non-NCAA conference). Maybe call it the Coffee Milk Jug!

Hey! Bryant made the NCAA tourney this year! Sure they were a 16 seed and got bounced immediately, but they made it while the other 3 did not.

 

[markhb]

Hey! Bryant made the NCAA tourney this year! Sure they were a 16 seed and got bounced immediately, but they made it while the other 3 did not.

I know! My niece goes there! And, to be pedantic, they were a 15 seed. But for the mini-Beanpot I was referring to hockey.

 

[portlandneedsnewarena]

The one puzzling venue that I don't see that often is Hartford (XCel Center) which UConn and Quinnipiac could host. Bridgeport is also a surprise that I would not visit without a sidearm LOL as with Springfield after dark. Maybe the NCAA thinks we are not a state or UMaine actually is not a D1 school ..LOL

I attended the Springfield Regional last year. The City is dreadful! In the parking garage at the MGM Springfield (next to the Arena) we were getting hit up begging for money by a few that were obviously on drugs. After the first game of the day (Denver/UMass went double OT) the Arena stopped serving alcohol of any kind.
The Sports Bar in MGM is pretty nice though.
I have always been told that the University of Maine can't come up with the money that the NCAA requires to host the tournament in Portland.

 

[markhb]

I have never heard of Springfield having a good reputation. My uncle used to tell the story of going to Boston for the all-New England basketball tournament (just "the tournament" in the parlance of the day). They went into a hotel to get a room; the guy at the counter asked where they were from, they said Portland, and he replied "That's fine, I just don't want none of those bums from Springfield in here!"

If I ever got a chance to talk to Joanne Palumbo McCallie, I'd ask her what it would take for UMaine basketball to be truly competitive at the national level; is it just money, or is Orono so far out in the tundra that it's an unsolvable problem?

 

[Lrfox]

I know! My niece goes there! And, to be pedantic, they were a 15 seed. But for the mini-Beanpot I was referring to hockey.

Whoops! Yes, they were a 15. I know PC has a strong hockey program, but I don't know about the other three. I'm more of a basketball guy. Would love to see something like that, though.

I attended the Springfield Regional last year. The City is dreadful! In the parking garage at the MGM Springfield (next to the Arena) we were getting hit up begging for money by a few that were obviously on drugs. After the first game of the day (Denver/UMass went double OT) the Arena stopped serving alcohol of any kind.
The Sports Bar in MGM is pretty nice though.
I have always been told that the University of Maine can't come up with the money that the NCAA requires to host the tournament in Portland.

I've spent some time in Springfield for work. I've even stayed at the Sheraton downtown a few times. It's a depressing place, and from what I can tell, the casino hasn't moved the needle on any sort of turnaround. I know the hockey events don't draw like the basketball events, but there's just very little outside of the casino to keep people occupied outside of the games. At best, the place feels dead and empty. At worst, it feels sketchy, and possibly even dangerous. I don't have a ton of love for Worcester which I think is about as generic as it gets by New England standards, but downtown's showing signs of life. There's activity there, and the city is a decent host. If a Non-Boston city is hosting in MA Worcester is the best choice.

What you've been told makes sense. But I wonder if it's "can't" or "won't." I'd be surprised if UNH is able to host, but UMaine can't. They have similar endowments, they're not far apart in size, etc. And I wonder if there's a way to get the Maine Office of Tourism to assist with a bid?

 

[markhb]

Whoops! Yes, they were a 15. I know PC has a strong hockey program, but I don't know about the other three. I'm more of a basketball guy. Would love to see something like that, though.

Providence is very strong, Brown plays in the ECAC Hockey League (might be the biggest D1 sport where the Ivies are actually a factor), URI appears to have a club team that plays in some alternate, non-NCAA organization (the ACHA), and Bryant, so far as I can tell, doesn't currently have a team.

But I wonder if it's "can't" or "won't." I'd be surprised if UNH is able to host, but UMaine can't. They have similar endowments, they're not far apart in size, etc. And I wonder if there's a way to get the Maine Office of Tourism to assist with a bid?

Location is another aspect; Manch Vegas is what, 40 road miles from Durham? It's 100 miles more than that from Orono to Portland, and again, comparing those 140 miles to the mileage between State College and Allentown just doesn't hold up.

Could Portland host it? I'm sure; we've hosted the National Governor's Conference twice in my lifetime, and that's without the Civic Center having a decent set of breakout rooms. But I don't see Orono jumping up and down to host it here.

 

[mainejeff]

It's 100 miles more than that from Orono to Portland, and again, comparing those 140 miles to the mileage between State College and Allentown just doesn't hold up

Not sure I get your point.

 

[mainejeff]

It's probably the closest comp. for Portland/UMaine in this discussion (state school hosting a tournament in another city well over 100 miles away), but it's still an outlier and there other pretty significant considerations for why it likely wouldn't happen in Maine:

• Allentown is a larger city/metro on its own
• Allentown is close enough to draw from Philly as well as several small cities in Pennsylvania and NJ. It's not too far from the NYC metro either.
• The PPL center is larger than CIA
• The PPL is relatively new and modern
• Penn State is a larger school with a larger alumni network
• Penn State has a much larger endowment than UMaine

None of those factors actually matter. There will be more Maine fans in Allentown than Penn State fans in Allentown. But you guys keep beating that anti-UMaine drum.

 

[Dr. StrangeHat]

So, if I gather from the commentary here, it seems Portland needs a new arena solely to attract either NCAA basketball or hockey tourney games? Because that's what you guys have been basically debating for 2+ pages now.

 

[Lrfox]

None of those factors actually matter. There will be more Maine fans in Allentown than Penn State fans in Allentown. But you guys keep beating that anti-UMaine drum.

Actually, the money is likely the single most important reason Penn State is able to host repeatedly in Allentown while UMaine can't/won't host in Portland. Penn State's endowment is more than 10x greater than UMaine's ($4.5 billion vs. $436 million), and they spend 9x more on athletics than UMaine ($215 million vs. $24 million). The rest of those bullets are secondary factors (at best). But the bold is pure speculation and has zero bearing on these decisions. When a school decides to host years in advance, there's no certainty that they'll even be in the tournament, let alone playing in their own region. They just want butts in seats, regardless of the jersey.

It's not even remotely "anti-UMaine" to point out that UMaine isn't hosting in Portland. It's just a fact. None of the discussion about "why" is anti-UMaine either. There are obviously very real reasons why the school won't do it, otherwise they would. Everyone agrees that Portland is more than capable of hosting an NCAA hockey regional today, and would likely be one of the better fan experiences in college hockey. So it seems perfectly fair to wonder why it isn't happening.

 

[PWMFlyer]

This should explain more in detail.

Understanding the process: A look at the selection of the 2020, 2021 NCAA men's hockey regional sites - College Hockey | USCHO.com

The announcement of host sites for the 2020 and 2021 NCAA men's D-I hockey regionals earlier this month sparked questions and no small amount of social media controversy (photo: Jim Rosvold).

www.uscho.com

 

[PlantArch]

I know that this has been talked about a lot but I'm watching cities like Manchester & Providence host major collegiate sporting events like basketball and hockey regionals. There is no reason that Portland shouldn't be hosting events like this with the number of hotel rooms located on the peninsula now and the Jetport having expanding airline service and capacity. New arena needs 10K seats and amenities. The Civic Center is a dog....knock it down and redevelop that plot of valuable land.

Portland should not think about building a new arena that doesn't seat at least 18-20k at the minimum. Otherwise we'll just end up with another arena that doesn't allow for thinking big about hosting anything.

 

[TC_zoid]

When U Maine hockey played that last hockey game at TD Garden a couple of weeks ago, 17,000 were in attendance. I read some comments about the game and some said the majority of the fans were rooting for Maine. How many made that trip down? 10,000?

 

[mainejeff]

One thing that I always find really bizarre is how people think that everyone who attends a Maine game is traveling from Orono.

It's almost like people don't get that most who attend or have attended UMaine are from Southern Maine or out of state. And there is only one D1 athletic program in the state that has fans from Kittery to Ft. Kent.

 

[TC_zoid]

One thing that I always find really bizarre is how people think that everyone who attends a Maine game is traveling from Orono.

It's almost like people don't get that most who attend or have attended UMaine are from Southern Maine or out of state. And there is only one D1 athletic program in the state that has fans from Kittery to Ft. Kent.

Who said Orono? They come down from Maine. The vast majority. Although many would come from the school, I'm assuming.

 

[markhb]

Portland should not think about building a new arena that doesn't seat at least 18-20k at the minimum. Otherwise we'll just end up with another arena that doesn't allow for thinking big about hosting anything.

How often will Portland fill that, though? The Maine Celtics are happy where they are, the Mariners aren't selling out the current arena, Albany has arena football and pro lacrosse filing its dates... As a Portland taxpayer I'm not enamored of the idea of spending a billion dollars to build something in the hopes of getting an NCAA regional once a decade.

 

[mainejeff]

Who said Orono? They come down from Maine. The vast majority. Although many would come from the school, I'm assuming.

10K+ Maine fans did not travel from Northern (ie. North of Augusta) Maine to Boston. Maybe 2K from Augusta North.....the rest from other areas. Yes.....schools have alums that live everywhere. And there are a ton of UMaine alums that live in the Greater Portland and Boston areas.