Along with that thought...here is some good news regarding the games:
World Juniors get help in prime time
REA/USA Hockey tap marketing giant to promote tourney
David Dodds, Herald Staff Writer
It was a question of televising the upcoming 2005 World Junior hockey championships in the United States on local cable access or shooting for something bigger, according to officials with host Ralph Engelstad Arena.
Chris Semrau, arena director of events, said plans had been to show tournament games on Grand Forks cable Channel 23, and possibly statewide on the Fighting Sioux Network at best. But with the recent hiring of a national sports marketing heavyweight, those intentions have fallen to Plan B.
REA management, jointly with USA Hockey, announced Wednesday that they've agreed to terms with Connecticut-based Octagon, one of the world's leading sports and event marketing companies.
The deal opens the possibility of more television exposure for the tournament locally, regionally and nationally. Specific terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed.
Octagon routinely works out deals for clients with media giants such as NBC and ESPN and has negotiated naming rights for both the New England Patriots and Tennessee Titans stadiums.
The company employs more than 1,500 people in 70 offices worldwide and manages the careers of a number of world-class athletes, such as Anna Kournikova, Mia Hamm, Tom Glavine, John Elway and David Robinson.
Bigger deal
It's the first time any United States-based World Junior host has brought in such high-caliber help to market the tournament. Tournaments held in hockey hotbeds Canada and Europe in past years have tapped marketing agents to help with those events.
Semrau said Octagon, with its experience and contacts, should make the World Juniors a bigger deal in the United States, but it still won't compare to the buzz and exposure it'll get in Canada.
Engelstad Arena currently is hashing out a deal with TSN, commonly called the Canadian ESPN, to televise the tournament. Last year's World Junior tourney was one of the highest rated television events in Canada.
"This will not put us on that level, just because it's not our culture," Semrau said, "but it will get us a bit closer."
Carl Levi, an arena marketing specialist, isn't counting anything out when it comes to the kind of television deal Octagon might secure for the tournament.
"There's all sorts of options," Levi said. "If we get the right person to go along with us, then our possibilities really are endless. (Octagon) brings a lot of firepower and a lot of weight."
Officials impressed
In addition to procuring the TV deal, Octagon also will take care of sponsorship sales for the World Junior tournament, which is set for late December and early January in Grand Forks and Thief River Falls.
Levi said it's also possible that Octagon could bring in some of the athletes and superstars it manages to take part in some of the off-ice tournament events, such as the "Fanfest" slated for the Alerus Center.
At first, Octagon turned down local organizers' requests to get involved in the Grand Forks tournament. But persistence paid off, and finally, Patrick Shannon, an Octagon senior vice president and father of a Boston College hockey player who played on the 2003 Team USA World Junior team, persuaded other company brass to take on the job.
"After watching my son play for the United States in the tournament in Halifax (Nova Scotia) in 2003," Shannon said, "I saw firsthand the impact this event can have on a community that celebrates the game of hockey."
Octagon officials recently paid a visit to the Englestad arenas in Grand Forks and Thief River Falls and were impressed by the combined $116 million facilities.
source
not a sure thing...but it looks like there's reason to hope....as opposed to the pitifully sad non-existent coverage last year...until AFTER they won the Gold Medal....These guys deserve better.
The offense is shambles though, basically the first and third lines are missing altogether. At least the best 'tenders and blueliners are there, they couldn't make do without them.
