Orlando this March will be the first conference tournament I will have attended.

(08-17-2017 05:29 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  Orlando this March will be the first conference tournament I will have attended.

I'll go just for the warm weather.... and to see how the parking garages compare to Hartford.

(08-17-2017 07:01 PM)SadderBudweiser Wrote:  

(08-17-2017 05:29 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  Orlando this March will be the first conference tournament I will have attended.

I'll go just for the warm weather.... and to see how the parking garages compare to Hartford.

I wonder if the Orlando visitors center writes about their parking garages as eloquently as Hartford does

I'll give HARTFORD this: I got to hang with Geno.

(08-17-2017 07:02 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  

(08-17-2017 07:01 PM)SadderBudweiser Wrote:  

(08-17-2017 05:29 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  Orlando this March will be the first conference tournament I will have attended.

I'll go just for the warm weather.... and to see how the parking garages compare to Hartford.

I wonder if the Orlando visitors center writes about their parking garages as eloquently as Hartford does

Limited underground parking garages in Orlando makes it an absolute non-starter for me.

Plus I hate children. Disney is my hell.

(08-17-2017 04:31 PM)HuskyU Wrote:  

(08-17-2017 02:39 PM)TU4ever Wrote:  

(08-17-2017 11:42 AM)HuskyU Wrote:  

(08-17-2017 11:33 AM)TU4ever Wrote:  Its a great location, central to 3 schools (Tulsa, SMU, WSU) relatively close for 2 (Houston and Memphis).
I expect Memphis and WSU to be good and bring fans, Tulsa has lots of alumni in Dallas and usually shows up well there. I would imagine Houston does as well.

Its in a neutral city, big time conferences have their tournament in neutral locations has been an arguement on here.

Large metro to pull from (dfw area is 7 million or so) for casual fans. Actually what 30 mins or so from a home school to work as an attendance base. Kind of the best of we need it neutral but we need a home team.

DFW should have plenty to do, so even a team bowing out early will have things for fans to enjoy and probably still attend some games.

Easy travel for everyone in the conference as a major airport hub.

Not a forever contract but long enough to establish the habit of it being there.

It checks off most the boxes this board thought were important.

Things it is not :
In the north east (sorry uconn), the big east is dead this conference is much more midwest oriented.

A geographical outlier, its pretty central to 6 schools.

Disney world/new orleans tourist destination, DFW is solid but not a huge tourist attraction, which I think was too heavily weighted by some.

Prediction: it will be the highest attended AAC tournament.

LOL. Tulsa averages under 4,000 per home game. What makes you think they will have any impact on conference tournament attendance in Fort Worth?

http://csnbbs.com/thread-823760.html

Ummm, 4300 in what everyone knew would be a down year, the city tends to band wagon.

However I believe we have more alumni in dallas then we do in tulsa. We have taken over moody in the past when we were rolling. Also its a short drive down for us and people often go to dallas just to go. We'll sell tickets just fine.

Sorry Hartford sucked. All mighty Uconn should have showed up and supported the tournament the way memphis fans did in the conference USA days. Since you didnt and it was horrible lets try something different you know where we aren't dependent on one school. You know geographical outlying and all.

LOL. You're not gonna have more Tulsa fans in Fort Worth, regardless of your record. A 10-3 Tulsa football only averaged 18,900 last year (well below 3-9 UCONN). A down UCONN basketball (16-17) averaged about 8,500 last year, almost double that of Tulsa (4,300). Do tell where you'll get these imaginary fans.

Hmmm funny thing here

2010 c-usa tournament total attendance: 47,703 in tulsa championship game was Houston Utep

What was it for this year at the XL again?

It needs to be in a location where it's not in another conference's shadow, yet still easy to get to and be a destination.

Hartford just wasn't that, and with UConn having an off year, attendance took a hit.

I would have left it at Memphis -- good central location, interesting city, could have been the go to spot for the American. Philadelphia could have worked if it was tried but I guess the numbers for arena rental just don't work.

(08-17-2017 04:35 AM)grapes Wrote:  

(08-16-2017 07:42 PM)robertfoshizzle Wrote:  I really don't care where the tournament is held so long as it's well attended.

Thats the point and a serious problem... Attendance has been on a major drop...

Memphis 2014 63K
Hartford 2015 45K
Orlando 2016 38K
Hartford 2017 29K

With the addition of WSU and it being back in Orlando this year it will finally stop dropping but don't expect great numbers. Orlando is better than Hartford but still not central enough. Starting in 2019 when it comes back to Memphis we can get attendance high and keep it that way by keeping the tournament in another central location via Fort Worth. The atmosphere of the games will be greatly improved. Important outliers Connecticut and Cincinnati will bring a crowd wherever they go. Smart move.

I can't speak for UConn, but my guess is UC will travel at best only ~1,000-1,500 fans for this. Most of those will be made up of alums who currently reside in the area.

Judging from Bearcat twitter, UC fans are not to happy with this. It appears Memphis or even Nashville would be preferred.

(08-18-2017 09:21 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  

(08-17-2017 04:35 AM)grapes Wrote:  

(08-16-2017 07:42 PM)robertfoshizzle Wrote:  I really don't care where the tournament is held so long as it's well attended.

Thats the point and a serious problem... Attendance has been on a major drop...

Memphis 2014 63K
Hartford 2015 45K
Orlando 2016 38K
Hartford 2017 29K

With the addition of WSU and it being back in Orlando this year it will finally stop dropping but don't expect great numbers. Orlando is better than Hartford but still not central enough. Starting in 2019 when it comes back to Memphis we can get attendance high and keep it that way by keeping the tournament in another central location via Fort Worth. The atmosphere of the games will be greatly improved. Important outliers Connecticut and Cincinnati will bring a crowd wherever they go. Smart move.

I can't speak for UConn, but my guess is UC will travel at best only ~1,000-1,500 fans for this. Most of those will be made up of alums who currently reside in the area.

Judging from Bearcat twitter, UC fans are not to happy with this. It appears Memphis or even Nashville would be preferred.

Well, the conference is here to please UC after all. We better move the tournament post haste.

Bottom line is that there isn't a good location for this conference. Bottom line #2 is that the fanbases aren't big enough or travel as well either.

(08-18-2017 09:21 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  

(08-17-2017 04:35 AM)grapes Wrote:  

(08-16-2017 07:42 PM)robertfoshizzle Wrote:  I really don't care where the tournament is held so long as it's well attended.

Thats the point and a serious problem... Attendance has been on a major drop...

Memphis 2014 63K
Hartford 2015 45K
Orlando 2016 38K
Hartford 2017 29K

With the addition of WSU and it being back in Orlando this year it will finally stop dropping but don't expect great numbers. Orlando is better than Hartford but still not central enough. Starting in 2019 when it comes back to Memphis we can get attendance high and keep it that way by keeping the tournament in another central location via Fort Worth. The atmosphere of the games will be greatly improved. Important outliers Connecticut and Cincinnati will bring a crowd wherever they go. Smart move.

I can't speak for UConn, but my guess is UC will travel at best only ~1,000-1,500 fans for this. Most of those will be made up of alums who currently reside in the area.

Judging from Bearcat twitter, UC fans are not to happy with this. It appears Memphis or even Nashville would be preferred.

I would probably be pissed if I was a UC fan. That's a difficult location. Especially for a 3-year deal. I'm not sure what the best approach is. Financially for the conference, it probably makes sense to get a multi-year deal. But the conference geography means that's going to suck for several schools no matter what.

Not sure why I hadn't considered that Cincinnati is really about the biggest geographical outlier in the league. It's 7+ hours to anywhere. Memphis is probably the only place that makes much sense as a host site for you guys.

(08-18-2017 09:29 AM)Hood-rich Wrote:  

(08-18-2017 09:21 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  

(08-17-2017 04:35 AM)grapes Wrote:  

(08-16-2017 07:42 PM)robertfoshizzle Wrote:  I really don't care where the tournament is held so long as it's well attended.

Thats the point and a serious problem... Attendance has been on a major drop...

Memphis 2014 63K
Hartford 2015 45K
Orlando 2016 38K
Hartford 2017 29K

With the addition of WSU and it being back in Orlando this year it will finally stop dropping but don't expect great numbers. Orlando is better than Hartford but still not central enough. Starting in 2019 when it comes back to Memphis we can get attendance high and keep it that way by keeping the tournament in another central location via Fort Worth. The atmosphere of the games will be greatly improved. Important outliers Connecticut and Cincinnati will bring a crowd wherever they go. Smart move.

I can't speak for UConn, but my guess is UC will travel at best only ~1,000-1,500 fans for this. Most of those will be made up of alums who currently reside in the area.

Judging from Bearcat twitter, UC fans are not to happy with this. It appears Memphis or even Nashville would be preferred.

Well, the conference is here to please UC after all. We better move the tournament post haste.

Bottom line is that there isn't a good location for this conference. Bottom line #2 is that the fanbases aren't big enough or travel as well either.

So when Memphis and Dallas both drive the attendance above 60k again what will you say? There are at least 5 schools within driving distance to both. The eastern part of this conference is spread out but the west is realitively compact. Name a conference that has more than 6 teams within 8 hours of its tournament location?

How far is austin from kc? Morgantown? Gainsville to nashville? College Station to nashville? Seattle to Las Vegas? Eugene to Vegas? How about omaha to new york city? Cincy to nyc? Tallahassee to nyc? Michigan to washington dc?

Sometimes this board complains because something isn't perfect, just pretty damn good.

Cincy is 1k
Tulsa is 1-2k
Houston 2k
SMU 3k
Memphis 3-4k
WSU 3-5k

Thats 14,000 on the low end for the Dickie areana, if no one else shows up. I expect uconn to get 500-1k there, same for temple. Anything tulane, ecu, usf bring is bonus. If UCF os good still another 500-1k (just on size of alumni base and die hards). So maybe another 2k from all of them on the low end again. 500-1k in walk up from a 7 million population is probably not outrageous.

Thats 17k base to work off right there on the low end. 20,000 plus would be easy if SMU, Memphis, WSU are winning still/again, more if Houston continues to grow as a program and Tulsa is back to being solid/good. If the conference is kickin ass we could see bigger numbers from the walk up, or Uconn if they are back on track, or even UC might bring more if its a really good year for them and the conference is good overall.