Saw this article on Twitter and found it interesting...
New York Times breaks down the explosion of D-1 quality players and the lack of D-1 programs to take them.
I know most here aren't hockey fans and that's fine. I happen to enjoy the sport although I admittedly am not familiar with all its rules and quirks. I've thoroughly enjoyed every game I've ever been to and marvel at the balance of skill and physicality that's displayed.
So with that in mind, I thought I'd post this article that talks a little bit about the growth of college hockey programs among Power 5 schools. With the growth of the sport across the Sun Belt(from CA to FL) and the new recruiting inroads made into Canada and Europe, there has come into existence a glut of players. There literally aren't enough D-1 programs to house them all. Some of those players fall to the lower divisions of the sport, others fall to club teams that have popped up around the country.
One of those newer club teams is, of course, my Crimson Tide. I went to the first ever game in 2005 and try to drive up to Birmingham for a few every season. The program has come a long way and has a really nice following. The past couple of seasons, they've even been bringing some players down from Canada to play.
That leads me to one of the points of the article, a lot of these players want the big state school experience. I don't blame them naturally. Most of the current D-1 hockey programs are small private schools. Many others are small state schools. Nothing wrong with that, but the experience of a major state school is different...especially one in the Power 5.
The problem with expansion by Power programs though doesn't seem to be a lack of interest across the country. It's a lack of financing to build arenas, fund scholarships, and due to Title IX, create a comparable investment in a woman's sport.
Personally, I'm hoping Bama makes the leap to D-1 in hockey. I think they're close to being ready and it's not unheard of for Sun Belt region schools to make the jump. Arizona State just did it a couple of years ago.
What's the future though? Are P5 schools going to start making investments in this sport? I think it's a good idea personally, especially for the Sun Belt region where the sport has been growing slowly but steadily. One of the reasons is hockey is potentially a revenue sport and if these schools are looking for ways to capitalize on their brands and bring in more revenue then expanding sports may be more economical than expanding with new schools?
Thoughts?