(02-07-2017 02:18 PM)jrj84105 Wrote:  

(02-06-2017 07:59 PM)NoDak Wrote:  

(02-06-2017 06:44 PM)jrj84105 Wrote:  What is the smallest capacity currently among D1 hockey participants? About where would the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile fall?

Answered my own question (although this is sort of skewed by the number of large, joint use facilities):
1st quartile: 2493
Median: 4000
3rd quartile: 6221

I wonder what ASU's target capacity is.

Ariz St's Oceanside is currently the smallest at only 840 fan capacity. Several teams in Atlantic Hockey have rinks from 1200-1800, but many have recently upgraded and more are planned, as that league doesn't seem to be satisfied anymore with a lower grade of DI hockey.

A western public school generally needs to have at least a 4000 seat rink to have a hope of breaking even. Believe that the planned secondary rink with the Coyotes was 4000. Ariz St would have played some games in the main rink, as they do now at Gila River.

I'm sure potential D1 move-ups would like to subsidize the cost of offering the sport with ticket revenue as much as possible (especially the 18 scholarships for women's sports that have to come along), but I'm not sure that there is enough fan support to reach 4K attendance for most of these schools. I also don't think breaking even from gate receipts is a prerequisite to moving up for the P5 schools that have conference network content to provide.

Michigan, though it has a slew of DII teams playing DI men's hockey, doesn't have a single DI women's hockey team. Neither does Colorado, Nebraska or Alaska. UND is the most western women's hockey school.

Doubt Ohio State's use of the Schottenstein empty arena shows well on TV or creates viewing interest for the BTN. Granted, the BTN pays well.