College Hockey Notebook: The finances behind Western Michigan's Frozen Four run

Now that I'm back from the Frozen Four, it's time to catch up with some of the news items that we didn't get to last week while covering the championships.

—— Sportico had a look at some of the financials behind the Western Michigan program.

The school reportedly spent about $300,000 on its Frozen Four run. That includes chartered planes, other travel expenses, and the school paid for 100 tickets for WMU students.

Paying for student tickets was optional, but WMU felt it was important.

“These are moments that these students are never going to forget,” WMU athletic director Dan Bartholomae said. “They’re never going to forget the time they got to go to the Frozen Four for free, and they’ll love Western for their entire lives because of it.”

The WMU hockey program produced the second-most ticket sales at the school ($500,777). In FY24, WMU reportedly spent about $2.46 million on hockey.

This was a key part of the article. WMU is set to build a new $515 million arena, and that includes a heavy investment in training facilities:

Previously, WMU has narrowly missed out on some recruiting targets who decided instead to commit to schools like North Dakota or Denver, which offer some of the nation’s best locker rooms and training facilities in college hockey. The Broncos, who currently play hockey in the 51-year-old Lawson Ice Arena, are hoping their new digs will make a difference on the recruiting trail in coming years.