The MAC will eliminate postseason conference tourneys in 9 sports, including baseball and softball, for at least the next 4 seasons, and the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments will be halved to 8 teams, with no more first-round home games.

https://www.wtol.com/article/sports/majo...a5a6d8fe3c

(05-12-2020 03:29 PM)sctvman Wrote:  The MAC will eliminate postseason conference tourneys in 9 sports, including baseball and softball, for at least the next 4 seasons, and the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments will be halved to 8 teams, with no more first-round home games.

https://www.wtol.com/article/sports/majo...a5a6d8fe3c

The MAC is on the frontier of these changes because its finances were so weak to begin with.

(05-12-2020 03:30 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(05-12-2020 03:29 PM)sctvman Wrote:  The MAC will eliminate postseason conference tourneys in 9 sports, including baseball and softball, for at least the next 4 seasons, and the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments will be halved to 8 teams, with no more first-round home games.

https://www.wtol.com/article/sports/majo...a5a6d8fe3c

The MAC is on the frontier of these changes because its finances were so weak to begin with.

Speculating--they're already tight geographically, so they haven't spent any time kicking around hard-to-implement ideas about working with other G5 leagues. And there's not much savings to be had working with the Horizon, especially on the Horizon's end of things.

EDIT: Gonna add the list of tournaments that got the chop.
Baseball, Softball, Soccer (mens, womens), Tennis (mens, womens), Women’s Lacrosse, Field Hockey.

Did hosting conference tournaments really cost them that much?

(05-12-2020 03:42 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  Did hosting conference tournaments really cost them that much?

9-12 seeds had to travel to 5-8 seeds

(05-12-2020 03:42 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  Did hosting conference tournaments really cost them that much?

Probably not, but it's an expense you can eliminate. NCAA doesn't *require* a conference tournament. (They don't require it in basketball either, or volleyball, but ESPN does--I'm assuming that's why the volleyball tournament didn't get the axe)

"They will also be eliminating the divisions for men’s and women’s basketball and will be playing 20 conference games instead of 18."

That is also an interesting move. More conferences moving to 20, less room for out of conference games.

(05-12-2020 03:30 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(05-12-2020 03:29 PM)sctvman Wrote:  The MAC will eliminate postseason conference tourneys in 9 sports, including baseball and softball, for at least the next 4 seasons, and the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments will be halved to 8 teams, with no more first-round home games.

https://www.wtol.com/article/sports/majo...a5a6d8fe3c

The MAC is on the frontier of these changes because its finances were so weak to begin with.

You are right on that front....

But, there will be a HUGE trickle down impact for a lot of other conferences... and in the case of what they are cancelling, for the MAC this can drastically impact its schools bids in NCAA tournaments in the post season.

(05-12-2020 03:29 PM)sctvman Wrote:  The MAC will eliminate postseason conference tourneys in 9 sports, including baseball and softball, for at least the next 4 seasons, and the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments will be halved to 8 teams, with no more first-round home games.

https://www.wtol.com/article/sports/majo...a5a6d8fe3c

Hell yeah.

Just keep the good stuff.

I posted this idea on the C-USA board, but I'm on board with one-bid leagues just sending their best team, the regular season champion, to the Big Dance.

First of all, conference tournaments for one-bid leagues are money-losers, or at best revenue neutral. The real money for these conferences are in NCAA tournament credits. The way those credits are earned are by winning games in the NCAA tournament, obviously. Well, based off data born out over decades of the tournament, the better seed you have, the better chance you have of winning a first round game. 11 seeds beat 6's and 12's beat 5's much more often than 14's beat 3's or 15's beat 2's. The regular season champion is far more likely to be an 11 or 12 in the Big Dance than the conference's fifth place, but league tournament-winning, team, who probably gets a 14 or 15 seed.

I want my league to put it's best foot forward and send it's best team to the Tournament and stop this charade where a tournament with 800 spectators watch the best team get upset and ruin the league's chances of having a run in the Big Dance.

Oh, and a big bonus: the regular season matters a whole heck of a lot more, which would drive better attendance for regular season games.

This move does make the regular season champion much more meaningful. I often looked at the conference tournaments as a way of potentially crowning two champions. Coaches were happier, AD were happier, players were happier. Parents/alumni/boosters were happier because two people could be crowned champions. This move reduces the champions and puts it onto the regular season.

(05-12-2020 10:46 PM)PirateTreasureNC Wrote:  

(05-12-2020 03:30 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(05-12-2020 03:29 PM)sctvman Wrote:  The MAC will eliminate postseason conference tourneys in 9 sports, including baseball and softball, for at least the next 4 seasons, and the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments will be halved to 8 teams, with no more first-round home games.

https://www.wtol.com/article/sports/majo...a5a6d8fe3c

The MAC is on the frontier of these changes because its finances were so weak to begin with.

You are right on that front....

But, there will be a HUGE trickle down impact for a lot of other conferences... and in the case of what they are cancelling, for the MAC this can drastically impact its schools bids in NCAA tournaments in the post season.

I agree, just because the MAC is arguably most desperate doesn't mean that other conferences, particularly other G5, won't eye what they are doing so that maybe they can save money or become more efficient doing the same.

Let's face it, most of these 'tournaments' are played before friends and family, and not just in the MAC. I recall watching the AAC baseball tournament a couple years ago on some kind of digital network, from somewhere down in Florida, and there were maybe 3 people in the stands for most games. And the AAC was pretty good in baseball that year.

These are largely going-through-the-motions affairs in sports other than hoops. And even sometimes for hoops.

(05-13-2020 03:54 AM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  I posted this idea on the C-USA board, but I'm on board with one-bid leagues just sending their best team, the regular season champion, to the Big Dance.

First of all, conference tournaments for one-bid leagues are money-losers, or at best revenue neutral. The real money for these conferences are in NCAA tournament credits. The way those credits are earned are by winning games in the NCAA tournament, obviously. Well, based off data born out over decades of the tournament, the better seed you have, the better chance you have of winning a first round game. 11 seeds beat 6's and 12's beat 5's much more often than 14's beat 3's or 15's beat 2's. The regular season champion is far more likely to be an 11 or 12 in the Big Dance than the conference's fifth place, but league tournament-winning, team, who probably gets a 14 or 15 seed.

I want my league to put it's best foot forward and send it's best team to the Tournament and stop this charade where a tournament with 800 spectators watch the best team get upset and ruin the league's chances of having a run in the Big Dance.

Oh, and a big bonus: the regular season matters a whole heck of a lot more, which would drive better attendance for regular season games.

In order for this to happen we have to play a full round robin. You can’t have teams “earning” the top spot by playing an unbalanced schedule.

(05-13-2020 03:54 AM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  I posted this idea on the C-USA board, but I'm on board with one-bid leagues just sending their best team, the regular season champion, to the Big Dance.

First of all, conference tournaments for one-bid leagues are money-losers, or at best revenue neutral. The real money for these conferences are in NCAA tournament credits.

OK, so you're talking about basketball. In that case, ESPN wants those tournament finals and semifinals.

Quote:Oh, and a big bonus: the regular season matters a whole heck of a lot more, which would drive better attendance for regular season games.

Doubtful. If your fanbase isn't road-tripping to fill a 10,000 seat arena for your conference tournament, they're probably not filling your 5,000 seat gym for conference home games.

(05-13-2020 03:54 AM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  I want my league to put it's best foot forward and send it's best team to the Tournament and stop this charade where a tournament with 800 spectators watch the best team get upset and ruin the league's chances of having a run in the Big Dance.

Thing is, best team at the end of the season is not always the best record over the course of the season.

The MAC is eliminating the play-in games to get to Cleveland ... if you want to go to Cleveland, finish in the top eight.

Quote: Oh, and a big bonus: the regular season matters a whole heck of a lot more, which would drive better attendance for regular season games.

This DOES make the regular season matter more than at present ... you can't have a number five seed at the end of the regular season lose at home in a single play-in game to the number 11 seed and be forced to stay home. Indeed, it may make for a dogfight for the 8/7 spot in some years.