im sure its a nice place but I would've liked more of a tourist location. If they were going to have it in Alabama . I think mobile would have been a better choice. I was really hoping for Nashville or charlotte or even San Antonio.

There is "stuff" to do in any city. But the purpose of going to Birmingham is to watch basketball. If I go, then I will be in Birmingham to watch basketball, and eat at restaurants I wouldn't normally have the opportunity to eat at. I don't understand why this is such a big deal. I want it to be where the most people are going to travel to watch it, and that isn't El Paso, but it always needs to be in a city where a member school is located. Birmingham is probably the best choice.

(05-15-2014 08:00 PM)10miners Wrote:  im sure its a nice place but I would've liked more of a tourist location. If they were going to have it in Alabama . I think mobile would have been a better choice. I was really hoping for Nashville or charlotte or even San Antonio.

Wait you would rather go to Mobile than Bham?? lol

There is plenty to do in Bham... and nobody would go to the tournament if it were in San Antonio. The SEC has Nashville the next few years.

Birmingham>Mobile.


Also, not many were fans of El Paso for the Basketball Tourney, but we got over it. I'm sure you will as well.

Fine, go to Nashville, Charlotte, or San Antonio and watch it there. Everyone else will be in Bham.
Funny the only ones complaining are Utep fans.

I'm pretty happy with Birmingham. Only two places I would have liked more were Charlotte or Nashville, but neither of those were options, so Birmingham was the best choice from my perspective.

im actually not a fan of the tourney in el paso. Im probably the only utep fan to think that. All the other conferences have their tourney in tourist or hot locations. When we were all bringing up locations for tourney I don't think anyone brought up Birmingham.

you obviously have never been to b-ham.....other than hoops aspect, the golf and fishing is unparalleled....I think it's a great choice.

I had a great time at the BBVA Compass bowl. Completely changed my idea of the city.

I am happy that the tourney is 90 miles south!

Once you see the battle ship, you bout done mobile. Oh wait they have a bass pro now.

No comparison in the cities as far as food goes. B'ham wins hands down. Oh you guys can fly southwest into bham not mobile

(05-15-2014 08:00 PM)10miners Wrote:  im sure its a nice place but I would've liked more of a tourist location. If they were going to have it in Alabama . I think mobile would have been a better choice. I was really hoping for Nashville or charlotte or even San Antonio.

El Paso is almost in ARIZONA!...Birmingham is the most centrally located city on the eastern side of C-USA/for the entire conference actually (excluding the four Texas schools)

Birmingham has a population of around 215,000 BUT the "Birmingham Metropolitan Area" has a population of approx 1.2 million which is good for 48th largest in the US (El Paso ranks 68th)

Birmingham is the 40th largest TV Market in the US (El Paso ranks 98th)

Because of it's central location the SEC is headquartered in Birmingham also.

UAB has hosted many successful conference tournaments through the years and the 2015 event will prove to be no different than the others...UAB, Charlotte, Old Dominion and Western Kentucky remember many barn-burning conference tournaments being held in The Magic City - I am so glad those schools are back with us now...not to mention we are just a hop/skip away from Middle Tennessee and Southern Miss...in a nutshell Birmingham works great for 10-12 C-USA schools - maybe the real problem is where UTEP and UTSA are LOCATED...either way, this won't be our last tourney by a long shot.

(05-15-2014 08:31 PM)rook360 Wrote:  Fine, go to Nashville, Charlotte, or San Antonio and watch it there. Everyone else will be in Bham.
Funny the only ones complaining are Utep fans.

Besides the op, have other Miner fans complained? I haven't. I'm also very confident the tournament will be in El Paso every 2 to 3 years but we have to give the 'central location' idea a shot.

(05-15-2014 09:45 PM)mistabinks Wrote:  

(05-15-2014 08:31 PM)rook360 Wrote:  Fine, go to Nashville, Charlotte, or San Antonio and watch it there. Everyone else will be in Bham.
Funny the only ones complaining are Utep fans.

Besides the op, have other Miner fans complained? I haven't. I'm also very confident the tournament will be in El Paso every 2 to 3 years but we have to give the 'central location' idea a shot.

I think its actually gonna be 3 to 4 years. I see a rotation of sorts coming. UTEP has done a great job, its just that its a long way to make everyone try and go that often.

Because El Paso is a tourist location? How about Memphis? yeah... NOPE!!!!

(05-15-2014 09:52 PM)Thegoldstandard Wrote:  

(05-15-2014 09:45 PM)mistabinks Wrote:  

(05-15-2014 08:31 PM)rook360 Wrote:  Fine, go to Nashville, Charlotte, or San Antonio and watch it there. Everyone else will be in Bham.
Funny the only ones complaining are Utep fans.

Besides the op, have other Miner fans complained? I haven't. I'm also very confident the tournament will be in El Paso every 2 to 3 years but we have to give the 'central location' idea a shot.

I think its actually gonna be 3 to 4 years. I see a rotation of sorts coming. UTEP has done a great job, its just that its a long way to make everyone try and go that often.

That and we have more schools now. If the other hosts can match or better what we did, then no UTEP fan can complain. If it's in a centralized location and nobody goes, it will be back in UTEPia more often than not.

Well, I'm not going to throw rocks at El Paso. Let's phrase it this way: I'm a fan of holding the tournament somewhere that's as central as possible, so that as many fans as want to can get in the car and go. Considering that it's farther from Houston to El Paso than it is from Atlanta to Houston, that ain't El Paso. It's quite a ways from even the Texas schools.

Yeah, you can take a plane, but that's a fundamental step up in complications from get in the car and go.

I look for the tournament to move around a bit, to be closer sometimes and further away other years. That's fine, way it should be, this is a huge conference in terms of geography.

Actually, there's tons to do in Birmingham, especially if you're only going to be here for two or three days. High end restaurants, great golf, shopping, museums, and more. Personally, I'd point you at Barber's Vintage Motorsports Museum and racetrack... if there's one thing in this town that is honest-to-goodness World Class, it's the collection of bikes and cars there, including the most extensive collection of Lotuses other than the factory. That's good for several hours all by itself if you are any kind of gearhead at all.

http://www.barbermuseum.org/

(05-15-2014 10:07 PM)mistabinks Wrote:  

(05-15-2014 09:52 PM)Thegoldstandard Wrote:  

(05-15-2014 09:45 PM)mistabinks Wrote:  

(05-15-2014 08:31 PM)rook360 Wrote:  Fine, go to Nashville, Charlotte, or San Antonio and watch it there. Everyone else will be in Bham.
Funny the only ones complaining are Utep fans.

Besides the op, have other Miner fans complained? I haven't. I'm also very confident the tournament will be in El Paso every 2 to 3 years but we have to give the 'central location' idea a shot.

I think its actually gonna be 3 to 4 years. I see a rotation of sorts coming. UTEP has done a great job, its just that its a long way to make everyone try and go that often.

That and we have more schools now. If the other hosts can match or better what we did, then no UTEP fan can complain. If it's in a centralized location and nobody goes, it will be back in UTEPia more often than not.

I think you will be suprised at what everyone brings. Southern miss has enough giving alum in the birmingham area to surpass the crowds we have taken to memphis, tulsa or el paso. im sure wku and mt can say the same. Plus its a short drive. 3 1*2 hours for us about the same for middle.

(05-15-2014 10:24 PM)Thegoldstandard Wrote:  

(05-15-2014 10:07 PM)mistabinks Wrote:  

(05-15-2014 09:52 PM)Thegoldstandard Wrote:  

(05-15-2014 09:45 PM)mistabinks Wrote:  

(05-15-2014 08:31 PM)rook360 Wrote:  Fine, go to Nashville, Charlotte, or San Antonio and watch it there. Everyone else will be in Bham.
Funny the only ones complaining are Utep fans.

Besides the op, have other Miner fans complained? I haven't. I'm also very confident the tournament will be in El Paso every 2 to 3 years but we have to give the 'central location' idea a shot.

I think its actually gonna be 3 to 4 years. I see a rotation of sorts coming. UTEP has done a great job, its just that its a long way to make everyone try and go that often.

That and we have more schools now. If the other hosts can match or better what we did, then no UTEP fan can complain. If it's in a centralized location and nobody goes, it will be back in UTEPia more often than not.

I think you will be suprised at what everyone brings. Southern miss has enough giving alum in the birmingham area to surpass the crowds we have taken to memphis, tulsa or el paso. im sure wku and mt can say the same. Plus its a short drive. 3 1*2 hours for us about the same for middle.

8 new fan bases so the traveling woes of CUSA 2.0 may not apply. We shall see. Then again, I have no probs with it being in b'ham in the first place.