Ken Wachter Quotations

We bid very low the first time, not knowing, and this time we had a much better idea. It was a much better bid this time around.

I would think it's the highest-profile event we've had. It's a big event.

I think it's certainly competitive with the other major sports now. In this market now ? nothing compares to football in this market ? but when you look at basketball and other sports, I think hockey is right there with them.

Our hope is if we perform well, not only from a monetary standpoint and an attendance standpoint, (but) from an operational standpoint that includes everything from the building to hotels and everything else, we will have a very good shot at (20)10 and '11.

I think (hockey's popularity is) only going to get better when high school hockey begins being played in the market.

I think (hockey is) growing more and more. I think a lot of kids are playing it. I think having the college games over the years has brought us new fans.

Ticket sales-wise, we obviously have proven ourselves. A lot is going to depend on if the NCAA is happy with how we perform this weekend. Do they like the building? Do we meet all the criteria they are looking for? And how happy they are with our staff, our community and how everybody performs over the weekend. I feel positive about it, but I'm not the final decision-maker.

Why put in the extra travel, along with the expense of setting up and tearing down, if you don't have to?

There's no need to play Green Bay when you can do multiple shows in Chicago, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, New York and many more. It's the toughest obstacle to overcome in us attracting the hot tours. We can't promise them enough to make them play here.

The Veterans Memorial Arena is 40 years old. The scoreboard doesn't work properly. The wooden seats are original. But for its purpose, it's more than viable.

In the theater business, we're risking so much all the time we felt if we could bring somebody in who had a regional following and eliminate some of the risk, it would be the perfect fit to allow us to do other things.