and the NCAA makes money off of it, at least $600,000 whether buildings are packed or empty. It's not changing anytime in the future.

I thought change was inevitable when they went to announcing regionals just 12 months ahead of time instead of always having at least the next two years lined up. I also thought the inclusion of the Compton as a site meant that too. I was wrong. The current format is also not a problem at all with the eastern portion of the sport. Attendance has been decent, at least, and if fans want to go, it isn't that hard for them to make it to games.

This format also maximizes both the ease of televising the entire tournament and the ease of fans who care about watching it being able to do so. The inclusion of a regional in the Mountain time zone also means the TV window may be a little more workable as well and we won't have quite as much overlap in the start time for games.

If we ever see the return of games prior to the FF being played at the higher seed's rink, the TV coverage will be altered to the point it might not be worth showing on traditional TV. To me that is a huge negative.

don't they have the regionals at NHL arenas in areas in and around the college hockey footprint? Basically, why don't 2 of Detroit, Chicago, and the Twin Cities and 2 of Boston, the NYC area, and Philadelphia host the regionals virtually every single year? The Frozen Four can then support a larger variety of hosts, such as Tampa, DC, Denver, etc.

they can't fill even smaller venues. Plus you'd have NHL scheduling issues.

primarily men's. There are 11 NHL teams that share arenas with 12 NBA teams (the LA Kings share Staples with the Lakers and Clippers, although the Clippers are looking at a new arena in Inglewood, near the new NFL stadium and the old Forum). Those include Boston, NY, Brooklyn/Long Island, Philadelphia, DC, Detroit, and Chicago. Each of those arenas bids regularly for NCAA men's BB tournament games.

and nothing 2500 fannies in an 18,000 seat venue