(03-11-2017 03:07 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(03-11-2017 12:41 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  For a conference tournament to do well you have to have several factors collide.
1. Teams with large support.
2. Develop a culture where the tournament is a part of the fans social calendar.
3. Location that promotes to the fans as an event not just another chance to watch your team play.
4. Easy travel whether that is proximity or very affordable air or train.

Exactly. That's almost exactly what I suggested in my post above. I'd also work with NOLA to place all the fans in one or two downtown hotels and maybe sponsor some events--to make the conference tournament sort of like a bowl game. Its a lot of fun if you can get to a critical mass and see lots of folks wearing the team gear of AAC schools all over Bourbon Street. While there is good fan support for UConn in Hartford---the city offers zero incentive for anyone to want to spend a bunch of money to travel there--so attendance will always suck in a place like that when the home team isnt on the floor.

Sun Belt is in NOLA and has been for several years, we actually did better in Hot Springs, Arkansas for the most part.

The problem with the Sun Belt's set-up is we play at Lakefront Arena. There is no streetcar service, no hotels in close proximity, and no nearby places to eat.

In Hot Springs there are two hotels connected to the arena and a handful of restaurants and bars in walking distance. But when ESPN moved our finals to selection Sunday, Hot Springs couldn't host because of the state tournaments being there.

The other thing Hot Springs did that work wonderfully is the arena is connected to the Convention Center. They put a court in the convention center and put in around 2000 portable theater style seats (leased from company that has the contract for the US Open golf tournament). In the early rounds games were being played on both courts and you could wander back and forth between games with both the men's and women's tournaments going on. Assignments were semi-random to balance men and women on each court but they would flip games that would draw more than 2k to the arena.

I really wish the Sun Belt would have done something similar at the Convention Center in New Orleans. Hot Springs had a lot less floor space and lower ceiling. You could do a 4k and 2k court in the New Orleans Convention Center, that puts you next to an ample supply of hotels and restaurants in walking distance, gives you streetcar access and walking distance from the Quarter, then move the finals or even the finals and semis to Smoothie King Arena. Reason I'd do it that way is because the conference actually looked at the arena rent was STEEP and even higher for multiple days because the Hornets now Pelicans.

Doing the dual court shaves a day off the tournament when you double host.

I spent some time with people from North Little Rock trying to convince them to bid on the Sun Belt splitting the early rounds between the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock and Verizon Arena in North Little Rock which would allow going between venues on the trolley or between Verizon and North Little Rock High School with a dedicated bus shuttle.

If you can double host men and women and use a dual court format it makes it easier for people to plan ahead and not lock up so much time and there is no picking between men's and women's teams for the smaller group who follow both.