(03-10-2017 09:30 AM)ken d Wrote:  

(03-10-2017 08:10 AM)Wolfman Wrote:  It has nothing to do with the B1G or DC. Fans are not traveling 1000 miles for game 1 of 5, on a weekday.

True. The biggest attendance problem is that these tournaments now span five days. And the first and second round games are between the teams in the bottom half of oversized and geographically far flung leagues. Those games will likely always be poorly attended, no matter what venue they are being played at.

At the very least the 11 vs. 14 and 12 vs. 13 games should be played at the home of the higher seeded team. Maybe even the next round.

(03-10-2017 09:54 AM)Minutemen429 Wrote:  

(03-10-2017 09:30 AM)ken d Wrote:  

(03-10-2017 08:10 AM)Wolfman Wrote:  It has nothing to do with the B1G or DC. Fans are not traveling 1000 miles for game 1 of 5, on a weekday.

True. The biggest attendance problem is that these tournaments now span five days. And the first and second round games are between the teams in the bottom half of oversized and geographically far flung leagues. Those games will likely always be poorly attended, no matter what venue they are being played at.

At the very least the 11 vs. 14 and 12 vs. 13 games should be played at the home of the higher seeded team. Maybe even the next round.

The attendance is secondary to TV and branding. Also, conference tournaments are often the only time of the year where you can get all of the university presidents, athletic directors, conference executives and other officials all together with a critical mass of alums from all of the schools in one place, so there's value in ensuring that even the very worst teams still travel to the neutral site location. That's generally worth the trade-off for having bad attendance for the early rounds of the tournament. It's by far the highest profile conference event where EVERYONE can be involved (unlike, say, a football conference championship game).

(03-10-2017 09:51 AM)bluesox Wrote:  Jim delany is a disaster. The big 10 needs a big10 guy running the league and not somebody stalking acc schools.

If procuring the highest revenue out of the P5 conferences consistently, creating a TV network that's actually owned by the league when it wasn't fashionable, and basically creating the most powerful conference at a macro level (with weight on both the athletic and academic sides) despite constant media and fan claims that other leagues actually provide a better on-the-field/court product (e.g. SEC for football, ACC for basketball) is a disaster, then I'm trying to figure out what's a success.

Any reasonable person can see that Jim Delany is a genius at his job. He's one of the few people in college sports that adds actual value (as opposed to just shepherding along a power structure that's already in place). He's not perfect, but believe me when I say that every single other conference would drop their own commissioners in a second to trade them for Delany.

I think that has more to do with the structure advantages of the big 10 than the commissioners office. The process Jim delany went through regarding expansion was/is bad and did not serve the big10 well. Personally, I think he was obsessed with getting unc and failed to take advantage of getting quality big12 schools when they will open to move, see Gordon gee comments

(03-10-2017 12:44 AM)Erictelevision Wrote:  Or EVEN BETTER in:

Chicago
Indianapolis
Cleveland
Detroit
Minneapolis

Let see..... they have already played the tournament in Indy (Host the Women) and Chicago.

Detroit is out.... Horizon League plays there.

Cleveland is out.... The MAC plays there.

Minneapolis is the only other logical place to play the tournament.

But as others have said the first day of the B1G tournament is always poorly attended no matter where its held. But with the large alumni bases along the East Coast it was a shot that the conference took. I think next year at MSG will be a lot better.

(03-10-2017 10:16 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(03-10-2017 09:54 AM)Minutemen429 Wrote:  

(03-10-2017 09:30 AM)ken d Wrote:  

(03-10-2017 08:10 AM)Wolfman Wrote:  It has nothing to do with the B1G or DC. Fans are not traveling 1000 miles for game 1 of 5, on a weekday.

True. The biggest attendance problem is that these tournaments now span five days. And the first and second round games are between the teams in the bottom half of oversized and geographically far flung leagues. Those games will likely always be poorly attended, no matter what venue they are being played at.

At the very least the 11 vs. 14 and 12 vs. 13 games should be played at the home of the higher seeded team. Maybe even the next round.

The attendance is secondary to TV and branding. Also, conference tournaments are often the only time of the year where you can get all of the university presidents, athletic directors, conference executives and other officials all together with a critical mass of alums from all of the schools in one place, so there's value in ensuring that even the very worst teams still travel to the neutral site location. That's generally worth the trade-off for having bad attendance for the early rounds of the tournament. It's by far the highest profile conference event where EVERYONE can be involved (unlike, say, a football conference championship game).

I agree. Also, the logistics of having first round games on home courts are daunting. For the ACC, there were six teams playing on Tuesday. Fans of three of those teams would often have to fly to the first round game, and then book another flight to the neutral site if their team wins. How do the fans of the three winning teams (and the teams themselves, for that matter) get to the neutral site in time for their game the following day? And what do the fans of the losing teams do?

Poor early round attendance isn't a problem to be solved as much as it is an unfortunate byproduct to be accepted.

(03-10-2017 10:16 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  The attendance is secondary to TV and branding.

/thread


... but ... envious haters gonna envy hate.

Potts: completely forgot about the other conferences in the region! :smh:! I just prefer it be centrally located in their traditional footprint. The poster above is right: the B1G is a Midwestern conference.

(03-10-2017 09:51 AM)bluesox Wrote:  Jim delany is a disaster. The big 10 needs a big10 guy running the league and not somebody stalking acc schools.

This is dumb.

(03-10-2017 11:27 AM)MplsBison Wrote:  

(03-10-2017 10:16 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  The attendance is secondary to TV and branding.

/thread


... but ... envious haters gonna envy hate.

And whom are the envious haters?

A pretty balanced thread IMHO

BTW...a post above stated the MAC is playing in Cleveland...I saw a game last night with Buffalo and they were playing at Myrtle Beach...that surprised me.

(03-10-2017 03:15 PM)TexanMark Wrote:  

(03-10-2017 11:27 AM)MplsBison Wrote:  

(03-10-2017 10:16 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  The attendance is secondary to TV and branding.

/thread


... but ... envious haters gonna envy hate.

And whom are the envious haters?

A pretty balanced thread IMHO

BTW...a post above stated the MAC is playing in Cleveland...I saw a game last night with Buffalo and they were playing at Myrtle Beach...that surprised me.

It's in Cleveland. "Visit Myrtle Beach" is a tournament sponsor