NHL All Star Weekend Thread

[MattPie]

Aren't convention centers giant money pits though? I remember reading some articles that talked about how the number of conventions overall have been trending down in recent decades and how even the best rated convention centers (like the one in DC) fail to meet their goals or even turn a profit most years.

 

It wouldn't surprise me with the pervasiveness of the internet and sites that make it easy to share info. Attendance at many motorcycle rallies (which often have a vendor section and presentations and lectures much like a convention) is trending down. People used to go because they could see new products and catch up with old friends. That's mostly possible online now. I went to a few here and there, but it's an easy choice for me these days between camping in a field with 10,000 other people or camping at a campsite with a handful of friends. (not that I get to do either often anyway).

 

On a related note, the National BMW Motorcycle Rally is at the Hamburg Fairgrounds in July. Watch for Motorcycles!

[SwampD]

:lol:

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/casting--john-scott--the-movie---as-all-star-mvp-gets-film-offers-001628591.html

[darksabre]

It wouldn't surprise me with the pervasiveness of the internet and sites that make it easy to share info. Attendance at many motorcycle rallies (which often have a vendor section and presentations and lectures much like a convention) is trending down. People used to go because they could see new products and catch up with old friends. That's mostly possible online now. I went to a few here and there, but it's an easy choice for me these days between camping in a field with 10,000 other people or camping at a campsite with a handful of friends. (not that I get to do either often anyway).

 

On a related note, the National BMW Motorcycle Rally is at the Hamburg Fairgrounds in July. Watch for Motorcycles!

Is there going to be a show? I'd love to come look at some old BMW motorrads.

[MattPie]

Is there going to be a show? I'd love to come look at some old BMW motorrads.

 

I think there's a display of old bikes every year. The rally in Bloomsburg PA (2011, I think) had a bunch, including a Harley Davidson XA (The Harley BMW), which I'd never seen before (Google it, I won't threadjack any more than I already have). I think it's around $10 for a day pass.

[Eleven]

Yep. The Music City Center in Nashville has 350,000 square feet of exhibit space and 1.2 million square feet in total space. Plus over 10,000 hotel rooms and countless bars and restaurants (and country music stuff) within a few blocks of the arena. That's what the NHL is ideally looking for. Buffalo, unfortunately, is way behind when it comes to hosting tourist events like this. That is one of the reasons the Bills future new downtown stadium will likely be domed. If domed it can be used as spillover convention space, similar to Atlanta, if a new convention center and convention hotel are built in close proximity to the stadium.

 

Yep. The Music City Center in Nashville has 350,000 square feet of exhibit space and 1.2 million square feet in total space. Plus over 10,000 hotel rooms and countless bars and restaurants (and country music stuff) within a few blocks of the arena. That's what the NHL is ideally looking for. Buffalo, unfortunately, is way behind when it comes to hosting tourist events like this. That is one of the reasons the Bills future new downtown stadium will likely be domed. If domed it can be used as spillover convention space, similar to Atlanta, if a new convention center and convention hotel are built in close proximity to the stadium.

 

 

Here's my question, though:  What, exactly, did the NHL do that requires all of that space?

 

It's not just the size of the Buffalo Convention Center that's inadequate, by the way.  It's completely obsolete.

[darksabre]

Here's my question, though: What, exactly, did the NHL do that requires all of that space?

 

It's not just the size of the Buffalo Convention Center that's inadequate, by the way. It's completely obsolete.

Gotta put Roenick's liquor cabinet somewhere.

[MattPie]

Here's my question, though:  What, exactly, did the NHL do that requires all of that space?

 

It's not just the size of the Buffalo Convention Center that's inadequate, by the way.  It's completely obsolete.

 

In terms of a convention space, does obsolete mean technical things like wifi, cell repeaters, and power infrastructure, or is the space "out of style"?

[Huckleberry]

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/gotta-see-it-lil-burns-cellys-way-into-hearts-in-breakaway-challenge/

[Eleven]

In terms of a convention space, does obsolete mean technical things like wifi, cell repeaters, and power infrastructure, or is the space "out of style"?

 

 

All of the above.  It also lacks food options (there are two stands similar to what you would have seen in an airport in 1986) and sufficient restrooms.

[Iron Crotch]

Here's my question, though:  What, exactly, did the NHL do that requires all of that space?

 

It's not just the size of the Buffalo Convention Center that's inadequate, by the way.  It's completely obsolete.

 

Off the top of my head, there was both a kid and an adult floor hockey rink, a hockey card exhibit, a lounge for Preds season ticket holders, several bars and food areas, a history of the all-star game exhibit, an NHL video game interactive exhibit, all of the NHL trophies plus another stage with the Stanley Cup, an autograph area, a giant all-star game merchandise store, an area that had air hockey, another that had bubble hockey, a whole bunch of kid-oriented stuff (shoot the puck on a net, play games, etc.). ...I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot of stuff.