I've posted this before, but per our AD at one of the functions to discuss our Green Coliseum renovation:

1) There's a movement to EITHER separate the men's & women's tournaments OR still have them in the same city, but stagger the schedules so it can all be done in one arena. The prevailing sentiment among the schools is that the two-arena requirement limits potential host sites too much. (Personally, I love the idea of putting the whole show under one roof. The fans & media could take in both without splitting their time & commuting.)

2) If that happens, and he thinks it will, USM will most definitely enter a bid to host in Biloxi. If not, we may figure out a 2nd site and do it anyway.

3) In addition to Birmingham, other potential hosts who have either entered bids or shown interest to this point are La. Tech (Shreveport), UTEP, and MTSU (Nashville).

4) He didn't feel that a central location is a top priority for the conference, but he felt travel was a factor and probably hurt UTEP's chances of hosting this year.

UAB paid for tickets and were given out to the first x amount of students.

(03-16-2015 01:36 PM)blazed247 Wrote:  UAB paid for tickets and were given out to the first x amount of students.

Must have used some of the money they're saving from doing away with football.

(03-16-2015 01:42 PM)USMSTUD Wrote:  

(03-16-2015 01:36 PM)blazed247 Wrote:  UAB paid for tickets and were given out to the first x amount of students.

Must have used some of the money they're saving from doing away with football.

I was thinking Ray Watts' PR firm must have come up with the idea and each time a ticket was handed out the students were told that Ray Watts cares about UAB more than they do.

(03-16-2015 01:42 PM)USMSTUD Wrote:  

(03-16-2015 01:36 PM)blazed247 Wrote:  UAB paid for tickets and were given out to the first x amount of students.

Must have used some of the money they're saving from doing away with football.

Could be donors. I know donors have purchased 1,000 NIT tickets for Tech students as of this morning.

Hosting the tournament is a huge financial and logistical commitment. UAB secured hotel sponsors, courtesy vehicle sponsors, catering sponsors, security... the list goes on and on. Months of coordination and planning had to take place. UAB hasn't hosted anything this big in a long time and with the football debacle & our AD resigning, I think things went ok.

Dallas area would be a good host site.

(03-16-2015 07:19 PM)Irish Rowdy Wrote:  Dallas area would be a good host site.

I like Dallas as a western option. All of the Texas schools and Tech have alumni there.

Since UAB will soon be out of the conference, why would we host it in Birmingham?

I complained about students being charged for a ticket...in a 19,000 arena. Now if the arena was 8,000 to 10,000 I could see charging the students, either that or you have to put a limit on the number of free student tickets. With that I really doubt if UAB had loss to Western they would have changed the $10 to free. Might have but I don't think so but it should have been this way from the go.

To the person who said UAB bought the tickets ...that is a problem in itself. With UAB bidding on the tourney they paid a fee to host then most likely a % over cost goes to CUSA. That's just a guess on my part going on how other tourneys that were bid on that I do know about.

So UAB "buying" these tickets and then giving them away is like $1 night at the game. I'm fairly certain it would be against the rules for a host school to buy up tickets and give them away to their students. If not then it should be because they are not losing full cost probably less than 25%.

Attendance is a non factor...butts in the seats. The bottom line goes by paid tickets and if we only went by butts in the seats the numbers reported for attendance was way way way off. Again it doesn't matter the only one taking a hit by low attendance is the host school that bidded for it. But host or not the same rules for tickets must be the same for all schools...actual cost is not the same for the other 11 schools as it was for UAB.

Of course the host school will have a advantage, why shouldn't they, they are paying the cost of the tourney to get that advantage. I personally think the conference should foot the cost and have it at a ..DISTENTION city and as I said before I prefer the coast. The attendance we saw for non UAB games will be just as high, probably higher in New Orleans or Atlanta or Biloxi and not any lower in S. Fla. The conference should be able to get any city that has room for the tourney to make a bid just as much as UAB did... even at 2,000 that's a lot of hotel rooms, and money spent over 4 days.

My only problem with with the tourney was ticket price and the lack of information at the BJCC and UAB ticket office. Birmingham would not be my choice for a tourney other than the close drive. But overall I think they did a very good job with the tourney other than a few issues that could have been handled better. Issues of some kind will happen no matter where the tourney is at.

I would like to see the tourney go in all 4 areas of this conference...Texas for the western schools, Nashville for the central, N.C or Norfolk for the eastern schools and S. Fla for the Fla schools. Once every 4 years and Nashville could change to New Orleans or Atlanta. I think the Texas location should always be San Antonio, Dallas or Huston. I don't think UAB will be in the conference for much longer

I think Charlotte should be given a shot at hosting the tournament. Great city with a good arena. Plenty of hotels for attendees. A major airport hub. So it is easy to fly in and out. I think it could work out well.

(03-16-2015 08:33 PM)odubum Wrote:  I think Charlotte should be given a shot at hosting the tournament. Great city with a good arena. Plenty of hotels for attendees. A major airport hub. So it is easy to fly in and out. I think it could work out well.

hosting the CIAA tournament a week before makes it difficult. The Hornets aren't going to like 2 weeks of playing on the road.

Fortunately, the CIAA is moving many of their games to Bojangles arena and so has the minor league hockey team, so that should free up the arena for more use in the future.

I'm skeptical the city will bid on it though. Maybe if the program ever gets back up to par, but these days there isn't much excitement for Charlotte basketball.

(03-16-2015 07:19 PM)Irish Rowdy Wrote:  Dallas area would be a good host site.

Yea if you want an empty tournament.

Why not San Antonio? Major hub like Charlotte. Have it in the SBC Center and Freeman Coliseum that are in the same parking lot. Very easy for the bands and fans to go to Woman's or Men's games. San Antonio could handle all the fan bases with hotels and getting around the city is pretty easy.

(03-16-2015 08:38 PM)Niner National Wrote:  

(03-16-2015 08:33 PM)odubum Wrote:  I think Charlotte should be given a shot at hosting the tournament. Great city with a good arena. Plenty of hotels for attendees. A major airport hub. So it is easy to fly in and out. I think it could work out well.

hosting the CIAA tournament a week before makes it difficult. The Hornets aren't going to like 2 weeks of playing on the road.

Fortunately, the CIAA is moving many of their games to Bojangles arena and so has the minor league hockey team, so that should free up the arena for more use in the future.

I'm skeptical the city will bid on it though. Maybe if the program ever gets back up to par, but these days there isn't much excitement for Charlotte basketball.

I don't see many of the cities that could host getting great attendance without fans of the local team attending. The crowds in Birmingham weren't great.

Still Charlotte is close enough, I can see ODU fans traveling there as it is only about a 5 hour drive. It could be possible that Marshall, UAB or Middle Tennessee fans. For Marshall it is also a 5 hour drive. For MT it is about 7 and UAB it is about 6. No other school is that close but as I said it is still easy to fly there.

I say it would at least be worth a try

(03-15-2015 10:21 AM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  And Nashville is out of the picture since I believe they are hosting the SEC tournament for several years.

There were like two out of the next ten years that were not taken by the SEC for Nashville. I don't off the top of my head remember which years those were. Any chance we could get those two years? I think a Nashville Tournament would be well attended.

Western will have similar numbers to our first game no matter where the tourney is located (other than Nashville) if we advance to the championship we will have similar numbers to game 2

Hot Springs Ark is a 7 hour drive and Western usually had 300 to 500 fans maybe 600 for the championship
New Orleans a 9 hour drive maybe 400 last year in our 1 and only game

(03-16-2015 08:48 PM)Greenroom Wrote:  Why not San Antonio? Major hub like Charlotte. Have it in the SBC Center and Freeman Coliseum that are in the same parking lot. Very easy for the bands and fans to go to Woman's or Men's games. San Antonio could handle all the fan bases with hotels and getting around the city is pretty easy.

In theory, San Antonio would be a great town to host this. But you guys don't support your basketball team well. So, why should anyone expect you to support a CUSA tournament?

(03-16-2015 12:46 PM)Blazer85 Wrote:  

(03-16-2015 10:46 AM)Smaug Wrote:  Help me out, UTEP fans. How much of this crap did you have to listen to last year?

If any of it was from me, let this serve notice of my official apology.

I don't recall this much outrage even when Memphis hosted year after year. Some were certainly not happy with it, but it seems to me the vitriole is much greater this time among a certain few fanbases.

UTEP has hosted twice but didn't win the tourney either time. That eliminated a fair share of the complaining. Imagine if UTEP hadn't choked in the championship game against Memphis? Just imagine the amount of threads! If only, lol...

Myself included, everyone thinks their opinion and/or vision is the correct.

-Neutral location
-On Campus only
-Split the women's from the men's
-Keep the women's and the men's together
-Never have it in Texas
-Have it in El Paso every year!

It sounds like Birmingham did a fine job. A lot of the people posting their two cents do so without knowing all the particulars. What neutral site is going to pony up 1.25 million dollars to host? This is where some of the new fan bases say a corporate sponsor will! As if it were that easy...

Major airline hubs is a must some say! Most schools didn't even take their own band to the tourney. Some schools even rented local high school bands. Yet some posters are saying we need a location with major infrastructure for the teams, the bands, the cheerleaders, the thousands of fans that will attend (if their school is doing well, that is).

The bidding process is the fairest way to do it. If Dubai wants to bid 1.5 million to host, so be it. If it's FIU or UTEP, so be it.

You can't just say put it in Dallas or put it in New Orleans. The bid process works because the host handles all the particulars. The venue, the staff, the administration. Who is going to do all that if we decide we want the tournament in Dallas? Is the mayor going to rent an arena and find workers?

Greenroom are you on RowdyTalk.com? i don't think i have seen you before