With Bids In, Tampa, Vegas Remain Strong Frozen Four Site Hopefuls

Seattle Emerges as Contender

by Greg Cameron/CHN Reporter (@gregdcam)

It’s been a little while since we painted a picture of which cities might host a future Frozen Four. The bidding window for the next round of hosts, taking place between 2023 and 2026, closed on February 3.

In a matter of weeks, a national champion will be crowned in Detroit, which will play host for the first time since 2010. Excitement is high for the 2020 Frozen Four, and Detroit Sports Commission senior vice president Dave Beachnau believes that the Motor City’s rebirth will lead to a great event.

“When you look at the Little Caesars Arena and the revitalization of Detroit itself in the past six or seven years, there’s been nearly $10 billion of investment,” Beachnau said. “I think that, from a visitor’s perspective, it’s going to be a great experience for fans and the teams alike.”

Beachnau wants to make sure that the LCA is full; while that may be dependent upon the participating programs, he’s hopeful that the building will be sold out by March 22, which is Selection Sunday. That said, he’s sure that Detroit will wow with its wondrous new facility.

“Little Caesars Arena is going to be an eye-opener for everyone that’s seeing it for the first time,” Beachnau said.

Many cities have bid for forthcoming Frozen Fours, and all of them will have their fates decided in October. Here’s what we know about prospective bidders, associated schools and conferences, and more:

TAMPA

One of the most popular Frozen Four destinations of the past decade is firmly in the mix for future events. The Tampa Bay Sports Commission confirmed the submission of Frozen Four bids for all four years of the upcoming cycle.

Amalie Arena, home of the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning and host of the 2012 and 2016 Frozen Fours, would again serve as host venue. The University of Wisconsin is attached as the sponsor institution; it served in that capacity for the 2016 iteration as well.

Rob Higgins, executive director of the Tampa Bay Sports Commission (TBSC), values the student-athlete experience over all, which went swimmingly by all accounts. But to this day, Higgins has heard about the hopeful return of the Frozen Four, and he’s acted on it.

“There’s not a day that goes by where we don’t have the people in our community talking about the possibility of getting it back,” Higgins said. “It’s an event we’ve dearly missed, and we hope to have the opportunity to host it again.”

Tampa was a favorite for fans, teams and media alike, swiftly dispelling the unproven narrative that modern-day warm-weather Frozen Fours won’t work. Higgins is a rockstar of a promoter, and the TBSC has secured various high-profile events since 2016, including the 2017 College Football Playoff National Championship, WrestleMania 36 and Super Bowl LV.

A return to the Sunshine State would be welcomed, and based on its track record, would be another successful event.

LAS VEGAS

The bid to host a Frozen Four in Las Vegas has officially been submitted. Las Vegas Events (LVE), a branch of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), has anchored bids for the 2023, 2025 and 2026 events.

LVE has bid in conjunction with the University of North Dakota, which was originally said to be an outlier in the conversation. T-Mobile Arena, home of the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights and the Fortress Invitational, is the venue of choice.

North Dakota is no stranger to Sin City. The Fighting Hawks hosted the 2018 U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game at Orleans Arena to a sellout crowd. Sources also said that the blue blood is planning to bring that event back to Vegas in 2022, except this time with the expected venue being T-Mobile Arena.

Ralph Engelstad, a notorious North Dakota alumnus and donor, also had several business connections in Las Vegas.

LVE and the LVCVA bid for a plethora of events following the Supreme Court’s lifting of an NCAA ban on states with legal sports wagering hosting its championships this past May.

In each of the past three years, the city has hosted a holiday college hockey tournament. The latest edition, dubbed the Fortress Invitational and run with the assistance of the Golden Knights, drew rave reviews from Cornell head coach Mike Schafer and Providence head coach Nate Leaman.

ST. LOUIS

No longer a sleeper hockey city, St. Louis has been involved in each bidding cycle since it last hosted the Frozen Four in 2007. The city’s enthusiasm for the event has not waned, and the Gateway to the West is pressing for a return.

The St. Louis Sports Commission (STLC) placed bids for all four Frozen Fours in conjunction with the University of Vermont. The Catamount connection is St. Louis Blues’ president Chris Zimmerman, who played four seasons for UVM from 1977-81.

The Enterprise Center, home of the Blues and the well-received 2020 NHL All-Star Game, would be the host venue. The building packed in the fifth-largest crowd in Frozen Four history for the 2007 national championship game between Michigan State and Boston College (19,432; third-largest for a regular hockey arena).

St. Louis most recently hosted the 2020 NHL All-Star Game, which was met with excellent reviews.

COLUMBUS

In 2005, Columbus hosted the Frozen Four at Value City Arena on the campus of Ohio State. It was the last time that an on-campus site hosted the Frozen Four.

The Greater Columbus Sports Commission (GCSC) partnered with The Ohio State University to place bids for the 2023 and 2024 iterations at Nationwide Arena, home of the NHL’s Blue Jackets. The downtown arena is just a 10-minute drive from John Glenn International Airport, and offers a much different experience to that of the past.

“We are very excited,” GCSC executive director Linda Logan said. “With the fact that we haven’t hosted since 2005, we’re very excited for us to showcase how much our city has become a great hockey community and bring another great event to Columbus.

“Our first Blue Jackets game was in October of 2000, so our team is 20 years old now. Not only do we have a lot more kids playing the sport, but we’re seeing success among our high school programs, our college programs...so I’m excited to showcase the Columbus of 2023 or 2024 to those rabid hockey fans that maybe were here when we were a new hockey market.”

The 2005 Frozen Four averaged over 17,000 fans for each of the three games; it stands to reason that the 18,500-seat Nationwide Arena would facilitate the event better, particularly as it relates to the fan experience.

The GCSC has bid on 53 total NCAA events during the cycle, per the group’s press release.

Nationwide Arena fits 18,500 people for hockey, and most recently hosted NCAA men’s basketball first and second round tournament games. It is one of the four NHL arenas with an attached practice facility.

DETROIT

The Motor City is gearing up to host three NCAA championships over the next two months, with one of them being the 2020 Frozen Four. It doesn’t want to wait very long to get the next one.

The Detroit Sports Commission (DSC) and Michigan State University have teamed up to bid for all four available Frozen Fours. They’ve again chosen Little Caesars Arena, this year’s host venue and home of the NHL’s Red Wings, as the site for the bids.

Optimism is high for this year’s Frozen Four, as it should be. Detroit’s credentials speak for themselves: the 1985 Frozen Four at the old Joe Louis Arena was the first to ever pack 10,000+ for all three games. The Joe played host again in 1987 and 1990, before the city brought the event to Ford Field in 2010, shattering attendance records for a national championship game (37,592).

“It’s a pretty competitive environment that we work in on a daily basis, and there’s a lot of great destinations out there, especially hockey markets, that we compete with, but I think everything we’re hearing in terms of Little Caesars Arena….leads us to believe that we’ll be under serious consideration,” Beachnau said.

SEATTLE

In our previous update, Seattle was mentioned as a worthwhile gamble should it submit a bid, considering that the NCAA Ice Hockey Committee’s decision would come before the first hockey game has even been played in the New Arena at Seattle Center. There is calculated risk involved with a bid, but according to a source, those risks have been taken.

The source said the sponsor of the Seattle bid is the NCHC, along with the Seattle Sports Commission. This aligns with NCHC commissioner Josh Fenton’s desire to bring the Frozen Four to new markets, as he and the league have shown via previous conversations with cities like Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York and Kansas City (more on those last two later).

The connection between the NCHC and Seattle is the New Arena at Seattle Center’s director of operations Steve Mattson. Previously the vice president and general manager of Minneapolis’ Target Center, Mattson helped host the NCHC Frozen Faceoff during its first three years of existence from 2014 to 2016.

Per the New Arena website, capacity for hockey is expected to be 17,300.

At this time, it is unknown for which years the bid has been placed. Ralph Morton, executive director of the Seattle Sports Commission, declined comment. Fenton also declined to get into specifics regarding the league’s Frozen Four bidding activities, but did acknowledge the need to diversify future sites.

“I do think that the Frozen Four, college hockey’s crown jewel event, deserves to be in marquee markets, and I think that can only help the growth and promotion and exposure of the game overall,” Fenton said. “I realize we can’t just continuously go into those markets without maybe being in some of the traditional Frozen Four spots, because I think, ultimately, the traditional Frozen Four spots are the bread and butter of the Frozen Four, but I think for the benefit of the game, it’d be great to be in some new markets and new locations that I think can only provide greater exposure to the game.”

A Frozen Four in Seattle would be good for multiple reasons; among them, it provides the NCAA and College Hockey Inc. an opportunity to showcase the sport’s biggest stage in a predominantly Canadian Junior-A-dominated region, and it also exposes West Coast schools, particularly those in the Pac-12 Conference, to the highest level of the collegiate game. If the Committee is willing to take on Las Vegas, it should be willing to consider Seattle in that same breath.

CHICAGO

The Windy City holds the non-Ford Field Frozen Four attendance records, set during the only time it hosted in 2017 at the United Center. While the years bid weren’t confirmed, a source said that a Chicago bid has been placed for the future.

The source also said that the University of Notre Dame would again serve as host institution, as it did in 2017, and that the United Center would again be the host venue. The bid was placed in conjunction with the Chicago Sports Commission (CSC), an entity led for the past eight years by former Colgate women’s hockey player Kara Bachman.

In the years since Bachman and the CSC brought the 2017 Frozen Four to town, Chicago procured the 2017 NHL Draft, 2018 NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Championship, 2019 and 2021 Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournaments, the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup Final and the 2020 NBA All-Star Game, among others.

The CSC did not respond to interview requests for this piece.

MILWAUKEE

The state of Wisconsin’s most populous city previously hosted the Frozen Four at the since-demolished Bradley Center in 1993, 1997 and 2006. All four events saw more than 17,000 fans on each day, but the event won’t be returning soon.

Marissa Werner, senior sports and entertainment manager for Visit Milwaukee, told CHN that no bid was placed to bring the Frozen Four back to the city. The ideal prospective host institution, the University of Wisconsin, has again signed on to the Tampa bid, though it wouldn’t have theoretically prohibited them from also sponsoring the Milwaukee bid.

Milwaukee will, however, be getting a taste of great college hockey over the next three years with the return of a holiday tournament to the area. The brand-new Fiserv Forum, home of the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks, will host Arizona State, Clarkson, Connecticut and Wisconsin in the inaugural edition of the Holiday Faceoff in December.

PHILADELPHIA

One of the U.S.’s most rabid hockey markets, Philly hosted the 2014 edition of the Frozen Four at the Wells Fargo Center, home of the NHL’s Flyers. A return to the City of Brotherly Love for the second time is not in the cards in the near future.

Anthony Stipa, communications manager for the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, provided CHN with this statement:

“The 2014 Frozen Four was a huge success at the Wells Fargo Center, and we are hopeful to bid on the event once again. However, after closely reviewing the proposed dates with the arena, we determined that the Frozen Four would be incompatible with the Flyers and Sixers playoff schedules in the spring and we would not move forward with a bid. We hope that circumstances change and we have the opportunity to bring this fantastic event back to Philadelphia in the future.”

DALLAS

Over 85,000 fans flocked to the historic Cotton Bowl this January for the NHL’s first warm-weather Winter Classic, considered a home run on all fronts. Could a Frozen Four in the Big D attract the same type of attention?

We’ll have to find out another time. Larry Kelly, director of marketing and communications for the Dallas Sports Commission, confirmed to CHN that no bid was placed to host the Frozen Four in the recent cycle.

NEW YORK

As noted in our last update, the NCHC was in talks with the Madison Square Garden Company to take a shot at the big one: college hockey’s biggest event at the World’s Most Famous Arena. The conference had facilitated the College Hockey Showdown between North Dakota and Boston College in 2016, a regular season non-conference game which drew more than 11,000 fans.

A Frozen Four at MSG will have to wait, though. A source told CHN that due to availability, which was perhaps the bid’s biggest hurdle, the sides could not move forward with those conversations.

For now, the New York City area remains one of the Frozen Four’s biggest albatrosses. The ECAC previously sponsored a bid for the Frozen Four to go to Brooklyn during the 2015-18 cycle.

KANSAS CITY

With an ever-ready professional arena in the Sprint Center, Kansas City is an intriguing option for future hockey events at all levels. Over the past decade, the downtown KC arena has hosted NHL preseason games as well as the Big 12 Basketball Tournament. The NCHC previously placed a Frozen Four bid there in the 2019-22 cycle, and it hosted the 2012 Ice Breaker.

Katherine Fox, director of marketing and sales for the Greater Kansas City Sports Commission & Foundation, confirmed to CHN that KC did not place a Frozen Four bid this cycle, and provided a list of the events that it did bid for.

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We will be featuring more cities and continuing coverage of the cycle before the October decision is made.