Mailbag: How do regionals work? Are teams tampering year round? Can BU's roster building win a national title?
Plus: An update on Jack Ivankovic, and Carter Amico goes back to the USHL
Today’s letter is a huge mailbag edition. Thanks to everyone for sending in topics. This was one of the largest mailbags I’ve had since I started the newsletter.
Topics for this mailbag (Issue #629) include:
How do regional bids work? Who incurs the cost of running them?
What matters more? Beating a good team or avoiding losses to bad teams in regard to the NPI?
Who is the most vulnerable No. 1 seed in the NPI right now?
Are teams tampering year-round now? What are coaches saying privately?
How many bids can Hockey East realistically expect?
What freshman has the most pro-ready game? Who is the most ready to step into the NHL right away?
What are Providence’s chances of making the NCAAs?
Which conference tournament will be the most chaotic?
What is the NIL/rev-share situation in college hockey these days?
Is BU’s roster building strategy capable of winning a national title?
Does BU figure it out this season? Or is it now time to turn the attention to next year?
How will Northeastern’s home shakeup impact the NPI?
Who has been a pleasant surprise? Disappointments?
Thoughts on some potential rule changes?
Has expectations for Michigan changed with the Jack Ivankovic injury?
How can BU and Providence add players at the break with the roster limits in place?
Does college hockey track injuries anywhere?
Thoughts on Carter Amico leaving BU for the USHL?
Thoughts on Colorado College?
Why is Hockey East getting crushed in the NPI?
In the notebook, we have comments from NCAA president Charlie Baker on challenges to the eligibility rules and the transfer portal. Plus, two Notre Dame players were suspended, and BU’s Carter Amico heads back to the USHL.
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Now, let’s get into today’s newsletter.
Mailbag: How do regionals work? Are teams tampering year round? Can BU’s roster building win a national title?
The following questions were submitted via email, Subscriber Chat, and social media. Questions may have been edited for brevity, clarity, and formatting.
Jason (Michigan): A friend and I were discussing the bidding process for regional sites, and we have a lot of questions. How much does it cost to host a regional? Do hosts make any of that money back? Is there a cost to host a Frozen Four? How is that determined?
All great questions — and I don’t have answers I’m fully confident in yet. I’ll ask around and circle back in an upcoming newsletter.
My understanding is that the host school (or host group) takes on the expenses and has to guarantee the NCAA a certain amount from ticket revenue. But the host keeps anything above that guarantee. So, for example, let’s say it costs the hosting school $250,000 between arena rent, staffing, and other event expenses. If they sell 15,000 tickets at an average of $50 each, that’s $750,000 in revenue — and potentially $500,000 in profit before the NCAA takes its share and the host collects the remainder.
That’s how I believe it works, but I’ll confirm the specifics and report back.
Sean (Boston): What matters more right now — beating good teams, or avoiding bad losses? How should fans interpret the math? I’m trying to figure out if beating a top team in the NPI gives you more of a boost than losing to a bad team hurts you. If that makes sense.
It makes sense — and this isn’t a perfect answer — but in reality, you need both.
That said, I do think you can survive going roughly .500 against strong teams as long as you avoid bad losses. Every bad loss needs a good win to counteract it, if that makes sense. And on the whole, I’d argue a bad loss (to a team No. 40 in the Pairwise or lower) hurts you more than a quality win (against a top-20 team) helps you.
