(03-12-2016 01:28 PM)ODU Oldtimer Wrote:  Just to mention. This year the MWC decided to have the Mountain West Tournament on UNLV's home court "Thomas & Mack Center". It has been in Vega for the last few years, I believe it has been at the MGM arena in years past, however this year it is at UNLV's home court. UNLV went out in the second round and the attendance is still GREAT! Over its previous 10 years in Las Vegas, the Mountain West Basketball Championships has enjoyed steady growth, with total overall attendance rising from 46,141 at the inaugural event in 2000 to a record-setting figure of 82,787 in 2011 ie... Over the last three years, average attendance at the men’s championship has exceeded 12,000, including sellouts of 18,500

I think there are three good options for the CUSA Tournament.

IMO, we need to look for destination cities and areas that have historic support for College hoops. Best three options.

1) Charlotte,
2) VA, Beach / Norfolk
3). Nashville

Maybe a rotation between the three?

I think El Paso has all the above, just out of reach to ever draw conference fans because of distance.

Charlotte mile5 between
El Paso..... 1,,100
San Antonio.... 1,200
Boca Raton ..... 650
Denton .... 950
Houston .... 950
Miami.... 650
Ruston..... 950
Birmingham .... 375
Bowling Green.... 350
Murfreesboro ...325
Charlotte .... 0
Norfolk....250
Huntington ....350


VA Beach miles between
El Paso... 1,650
San Antonio .... 1,300
Denton ... 1,200
Houston .... 1,150
Boca Raton ... 700
Miami.... 800
Ruston..... 450
Hattiesburg ..... 575
Birmingham .... 650
Bowling Green.....550
Murfreesboro ...575
Charlotte.....250
Norfolk. .... 0
Huntington ...... 350

Nashville Miles distance
El Paso.... 1,250
San Antonio 900
Denton ...850
Houston .... 650
Boca Raton ..... 800
Miami.... 850
Ruston..... 425
Hattiesburg ..... 375
Birmingham .... 200
Bowling Green.... 60
Murfreesboro ...30
Charlotte ... 350
Norfolk....575
Huntington .... 300

For comparison's sake, distance from Birmingham:
El Paso - 1275
San Antonio - 850
Denton - 675
Houston - 675
Boca Raton - 700
Miami - 750
Ruston - 400
Hattiesburg - 225
Birmingham - 0
Bowling Green - 250
Murfreesboro - 200
Charlotte - 400
Norfolk - 700
Huntington - 525

Notice there are only 2 schools outside of 800 miles. If you move it to Nashville, Charlotte, and Virginia, you're putting it further away from most of the schools west of Birmingham. Not saying Birmingham should always host, but we should be in the rotation. Also, we need to consider our western friends. I vote for the tournament to rotate between Birmingham, Norfolk/Charlotte & El Paso/Shreveport.

(03-12-2016 12:37 PM)SigNuTopper Wrote:  Was watching the AAC quarterfinal between UC and UCONN yesterday. The attendance was piss poor for that too, it seemed. Neutral site locations are always going to have bad attendance for the small guys in the G5. It's not just a CUSA problem, and he'll id say we are better off than the SBC & MAC

Actually the MAC tournament in Cleveland draws pretty well. The championship game 10-13k+ (usually in the high 12000 range from what I can find). It certainly helps when one or more of Kent State, Akron, or Ohio are in the final segments of the tournament but Toledo, Bowling Green, Miami can expect to draw decent crowds too. Except for Northern Illinois the travel is not too terrible so that helps with its location.

Some have been calling to maybe move it to Detroit (mostly the Michigan schools and some Toledo fans) but Cleveland has supported the tournament well and it seems to be a good fit.

I would say that the MAC tournament is a good example of a neutral site tournament that can work but it only works due to having so many schools in relative proximity to the location with lots of alumni in the area. It also helps that the best basketball rivalries are close by as well which when they play get a lot of people to the games.

(03-11-2016 07:30 PM)Ole Blue Wrote:  

(03-11-2016 07:02 PM)BlazerGold09 Wrote:  About an hour ago from our blog photog

That's from ODU and WKU earlier today?

WKU had a good crowd for that game