Big Sky Tournament headed to Reno

[putter]

I would hope Foolerton got Reno to pony up enough money to assist the schools with lodging and food. Maybe thinking that some fans of all the schools will show up and spend some cash over a few days was enough of a carrot for Reno. I think the argument of nothing to play for is a little off. You don't think kids and coaches are competitive? I agree that last year was fun watching the positioning over the last few weeks but no program wants to be the sacrificial lamb to Kentucky or Duke so having a great record goes a long way. Let's see how this plays out and then ask for The commissioners head if it does not work out.

 

[NorthEndZoneDan]

I would hope Foolerton got Reno to pony up enough money to assist the schools with lodging and food. Maybe thinking that some fans of all the schools will show up and spend some cash over a few days was enough of a carrot for Reno. I think the argument of nothing to play for is a little off. You don't think kids and coaches are competitive? I agree that last year was fun watching the positioning over the last few weeks but no program wants to be the sacrificial lamb to Kentucky or Duke so having a great record goes a long way. Let's see how this plays out and then ask for The commissioners head if it does not work out.

I agree :thumb:

 

[browningmontana]

I see that the Reno Convention Center will only hold 5,000 seats for basketball. So, the Conference obviously isn't interested in selling tickets. They will be able to put a few fans in the seats and have the television cameras carefully avoid showing the empty seats.

I know that I shouldn't think these things, but do you think that there is any chance that all of the Athletic Directors, Presidents, coaches, and Big Sky Conference employees get really nice hotel rooms in Reno with really nice tickets to all of the events in Reno that week??? That wouldn't have anything to do with Reno winning out over Spokane or Billings or Missoula? Why do I think such thoughts? I'll bet the fix was in from the get go.

 

[ISUguy]

I see that the Reno Convention Center will only hold 5,000 seats for basketball. So, the Conference obviously isn't interested in selling tickets. They will be able to put a few fans in the seats and have the television cameras carefully avoid showing the empty seats.

I know that I shouldn't think these things, but do you think that there is any chance that all of the Athletic Directors, Presidents, coaches, and Big Sky Conference employees get really nice hotel rooms in Reno with really nice tickets to all of the events in Reno that week??? That wouldn't have anything to do with Reno winning out over Spokane or Billings or Missoula? Why do I think such thoughts? I'll bet the fix was in from the get go.

Or maybe, browning, the fact that Reno is the only truly neutral site of the four mentioned had something to do with it?

 

[mtgrizrule]

I'm not certain I buy the financial argument. This scenario now means each school has travel costs, food and lodging for the mens and womens team for roughly 4 or 5 days? I can see the hotels and restaurants in Reno saying this makes financial sense but what am I missing from the school's perspective? How does this possibly save them money? From the revenue stream side, there will be probably a couple hundred tickets sold? There is no word of a tv deal. If the bobkitties wouldnt make the tourney under the old format and now they have to pony up travel bucks for the new tourney format how is this a cost savings? What am I missing?

I buy the financial argument. No matter the format and location, there is always food and lodging expense. As for lodging, Big Sky Conference offices can reserve the proper hotel or hotels for all the teams as soon as conference tournament dates are known. With that much advance notice, the lodging expenses will be considerably discounted as compared to arrangements being made with a week or 2 notice. I am sure most the Reno restaurants will be discounting meals and drinks for the schools as well.

I don't know how long the tournaments will be. My guess is 12 schools for men, 12 schools for women, including players, coaches, pep bands, athletic department officials, referees, trainers, cheer squads, dance teams, etc. Just for coaches, players, staff, not including pep bands, cheerleaders, I am guessing roughly 25 people per team. That alone would be accommodating 50 people per school (Combining mens and womens) x 12 schools at an average of $100.00 per day per person (for lodging and meals, which is likely very conservative on my part)= $60,000/day spent in Reno bare minimum.

Add into this equation schools bringing in pep bands, cheerleaders, dance teams, school officials. I have no idea which schools would bring who and how many people for all those. Also keep in mind most hosting cities draw well from the locals for game attendance. Then add into this how many fans of various teams will come into Reno and spend money for 2 to 6 days.
Hell, my group of friends who interested in a get together for the conference tournament is near 20 people alone. I've never been to Reno for more than a few hours or a quick drive through. I am damn interested in experiencing Reno and interacting with other BSC fans as well. Believe it or not, I actually like most the Weber State basketball fans, with the exception of 1 of their posters here.

I for one am really looking forward to experiencing this at least 1 of the 3 years. With that said, would I be willing to go Reno every year for this tournament? I highly doubt it. I would love to have the neutral site rotate every 3 years. I'd gladly attend at Spokane, Boise, Billings, Las Vegas, Portland, Seattle, Sacramento (if they found a decent facility), Denver, Salt Lake City, etc.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

 

[NorthEndZoneDan]

I'm not certain I buy the financial argument. This scenario now means each school has travel costs, food and lodging for the mens and womens team for roughly 4 or 5 days? I can see the hotels and restaurants in Reno saying this makes financial sense but what am I missing from the school's perspective? How does this possibly save them money? From the revenue stream side, there will be probably a couple hundred tickets sold? There is no word of a tv deal. If the bobkitties wouldnt make the tourney under the old format and now they have to pony up travel bucks for the new tourney format how is this a cost savings? What am I missing?

I buy the financial argument. No matter the format and location, there is always food and lodging expense. As for lodging, Big Sky Conference offices can reserve the proper hotel or hotels for all the teams as soon as conference tournament dates are known. With that much advance notice, the lodging expenses will be considerably discounted as compared to arrangements being made with a week or 2 notice. I am sure most the Reno restaurants will be discounting meals and drinks for the schools as well.

I don't know how long the tournaments will be. My guess is 12 schools for men, 12 schools for women, including players, coaches, pep bands, athletic department officials, referees, trainers, cheer squads, dance teams, etc. Just for coaches, players, staff, not including pep bands, cheerleaders, I am guessing roughly 25 people per team. That alone would be accommodating 50 people per school (Combining mens and womens) x 12 schools at an average of $100.00 per day per person (for lodging and meals, which is likely very conservative on my part)= $60,000/day spent in Reno bare minimum.

Add into this equation schools bringing in pep bands, cheerleaders, dance teams, school officials. I have no idea which schools would bring who and how many people for all those. Also keep in mind most hosting cities draw well from the locals for game attendance. Then add into this how many fans of various teams will come into Reno and spend money for 2 to 6 days.
Hell, my group of friends who interested in a get together for the conference tournament is near 20 people alone. I've never been to Reno for more than a few hours or a quick drive through. I am damn interested in experiencing Reno and interacting with other BSC fans as well. Believe it or not, I actually like most the Weber State basketball fans, with the exception of 1 of their posters here.

I for one am really looking forward to experiencing this at least 1 of the 3 years. With that said, would I be willing to go Reno every year for this tournament? I highly doubt it. I would love to have the neutral site rotate every 3 years. I'd gladly attend at Spokane, Boise, Billings, Las Vegas, Portland, Seattle, Sacramento (if they found a decent facility), Denver, Salt Lake City, etc.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Crunch the numbers you have for 5 teams with coaches, players, trainers, ad folks, band, cheer etc. Then crunch the same dollars for 12 teams and tell me how that works out to be a cost savings.

 

[sacstateman]

^Where did the 5 team idea come from?

 

[mtgrizrule]

^Where did the 5 team idea come from?

I was about to ask the same question. All the bidding sites were informed the package would include 12 teams each tournament. I am guessing the format will be the top 4 teams will get a 1st round buy.

 

[sacstateman]

^Where did the 5 team idea come from?

I was about to ask the same question. All the bidding sites were informed the package would include 12 teams each tournament. I am guessing the format will be the top 4 teams will get a 1st round buy.

That is the way I understand it also.....top 4 get 1st round bye....

 

[NorthEndZoneDan]

^Where did the 5 team idea come from?

my bad. In a nut shell, everyone goes to the tourney instead of the top 8. Instead of 7 teams traveling you now have 11. I dont believe the cost savings from a set site such as Reno, or Spokane or Billings for that matter, is greater than the additional costs of adding everyone to the tourney. If there aren't new tv dollars or a greater guarantee from Reno above the previous 160k requirement, the numbers wont pencil to a cost savings.

 

[EverettGriz]

^Where did the 5 team idea come from?

my bad. In a nut shell, everyone goes to the tourney instead of the top 8. Instead of 7 teams traveling you now have 11. I dont believe the cost savings from a set site such as Reno, or Spokane or Billings for that matter, is greater than the additional costs of adding everyone to the tourney. If there aren't new tv dollars or a greater guarantee from Reno above the previous 160k requirement, the numbers wont pencil to a cost savings.

That's a great point, NEZD.

 

[HelenaHandBasket]

^Where did the 5 team idea come from?

my bad. In a nut shell, everyone goes to the tourney instead of the top 8. Instead of 7 teams traveling you now have 11. I dont believe the cost savings from a set site such as Reno, or Spokane or Billings for that matter, is greater than the additional costs of adding everyone to the tourney. If there aren't new tv dollars or a greater guarantee from Reno above the previous 160k requirement, the numbers wont pencil to a cost savings.

The cost for each school to send both men's and women's teams to Reno will be much less than sending the men's and women's team to two locations on 7-10 days notice. I am quite confident that the cost of each option is much closer than you believe, even with the larger number of teams. I would even go so far to say that any dope could figure out that the total for 24 teams will be more than 14 teams, but seems to escape people that the cost per team will be less.

 

[ISUguy]

^Where did the 5 team idea come from?

my bad. In a nut shell, everyone goes to the tourney instead of the top 8. Instead of 7 teams traveling you now have 11. I dont believe the cost savings from a set site such as Reno, or Spokane or Billings for that matter, is greater than the additional costs of adding everyone to the tourney. If there aren't new tv dollars or a greater guarantee from Reno above the previous 160k requirement, the numbers wont pencil to a cost savings.

The cost for each school to send both men's and women's teams to Reno will be much less than sending the men's and women's team to two locations on 7-10 days notice. I am quite confident that the cost of each option is much closer than you believe, even with the larger number of teams. I would even go so far to say that any dope could figure out that the total for 24 teams will be more than 14 teams, but seems to escape people that the cost per team will be less.

And the cost per team is what everybody was concerned about.

 

[HelenaHandBasket]

^Where did the 5 team idea come from?

my bad. In a nut shell, everyone goes to the tourney instead of the top 8. Instead of 7 teams traveling you now have 11. I dont believe the cost savings from a set site such as Reno, or Spokane or Billings for that matter, is greater than the additional costs of adding everyone to the tourney. If there aren't new tv dollars or a greater guarantee from Reno above the previous 160k requirement, the numbers wont pencil to a cost savings.

The cost for each school to send both men's and women's teams to Reno will be much less than sending the men's and women's team to two locations on 7-10 days notice. I am quite confident that the cost of each option is much closer than you believe, even with the larger number of teams. I would even go so far to say that any dope could figure out that the total for 24 teams will be more than 14 teams, but seems to escape people that the cost per team will be less.

And the cost per team is what everybody was concerned about.

It is something that each school was concerned about.

 

[DPGriz]

Incredible, the Big Sky found a way to simultaneously make the regular season and tournament worse. But hey, at least they saved a couple bucks.

 

[sacstateman]

When UND joined the BSC, the first year they played, their women's team won the regular season title. There were teams who had enormous problems making connections to Grand Forks on short notice. I'm sure it isn't THAT easy to get a flight to Grand Forks on 2 months notice but to try to get 20+ people to GF on 2 days notice was quite daunting to say the least. I heard it took Sac St over 18 hours to get all their people there and they couldn't get them all there at the same time. The cost is obviously much greater for short notice flights, as are rooms etc. The logistics are unbelieveable when trying to get 20+ people x 8 teams plus all the officials and extra staff to a small place like Grand Forks. Reno might not be a picnic getting to but it is not going to present NEAR the problems that a place like GF does. Plus you have at least a year in advance to reserve transportation and lodging. It isn't just about the money but the money does come into play.

 

[grizindabox]

When UND joined the BSC, the first year they played, their women's team won the regular season title. There were teams who had enormous problems making connections to Grand Forks on short notice. I'm sure it isn't THAT easy to get a flight to Grand Forks on 2 months notice but to try to get 20+ people to GF on 2 days notice was quite daunting to say the least. I heard it took Sac St over 18 hours to get all their people there and they couldn't get them all there at the same time. The cost is obviously much greater for short notice flights, as are rooms etc. The logistics are unbelieveable when trying to get 20+ people x 8 teams plus all the officials and extra staff to a small place like Grand Forks. Reno might not be a picnic getting to but it is not going to present NEAR the problems that a place like GF does. Plus you have at least a year in advance to reserve transportation and lodging. It isn't just about the money but the money does come into play.

It is just a handful of Griz fans that continually think all the Conference does is $hit on them over and over....pretty typical for that bunch.

 

[mtgrizrule]

When UND joined the BSC, the first year they played, their women's team won the regular season title. There were teams who had enormous problems making connections to Grand Forks on short notice. I'm sure it isn't THAT easy to get a flight to Grand Forks on 2 months notice but to try to get 20+ people to GF on 2 days notice was quite daunting to say the least. I heard it took Sac St over 18 hours to get all their people there and they couldn't get them all there at the same time. The cost is obviously much greater for short notice flights, as are rooms etc. The logistics are unbelieveable when trying to get 20+ people x 8 teams plus all the officials and extra staff to a small place like Grand Forks. Reno might not be a picnic getting to but it is not going to present NEAR the problems that a place like GF does. Plus you have at least a year in advance to reserve transportation and lodging. It isn't just about the money but the money does come into play.

It is just a handful of Griz fans that continually think all the Conference does is $hit on them over and over....pretty typical for that bunch.

As much as I love the conference winner hosting the tournament, I understand and respect this decision. It also reduces the liklihood of a host team losing out early and attendance stinking for conference championship game on live tv, or the tournament being held at a not so good venue.

This will save the schools and conference a lot in expenses due to the advance arrangements that can be made. Hell, for the fans that want to save money, you can make arrangements a month to a year in advance and save money yourself over planning a quick trip. No argument from me with this, other than it does take away from the environment of having a host school.

 

[DPGriz]

When UND joined the BSC, the first year they played, their women's team won the regular season title. There were teams who had enormous problems making connections to Grand Forks on short notice. I'm sure it isn't THAT easy to get a flight to Grand Forks on 2 months notice but to try to get 20+ people to GF on 2 days notice was quite daunting to say the least. I heard it took Sac St over 18 hours to get all their people there and they couldn't get them all there at the same time. The cost is obviously much greater for short notice flights, as are rooms etc. The logistics are unbelieveable when trying to get 20+ people x 8 teams plus all the officials and extra staff to a small place like Grand Forks. Reno might not be a picnic getting to but it is not going to present NEAR the problems that a place like GF does. Plus you have at least a year in advance to reserve transportation and lodging. It isn't just about the money but the money does come into play.

It is just a handful of Griz fans that continually think all the Conference does is $hit on them over and over....pretty typical for that bunch.

As much as I love the conference winner hosting the tournament, I understand and respect this decision. It also reduces the liklihood of a host team losing out early and attendance stinking for conference championship game on live tv, or the tournament being held at a not so good venue.

This will save the schools and conference a lot in expenses due to the advance arrangements that can be made. Hell, for the fans that want to save money, you can make arrangements a month to a year in advance and save money yourself over planning a quick trip. No argument from me with this, other than it does take away from the environment of having a host school.

So the solution to that issue is to hold the tournament where no fans will show up no matter what? Attendance is pretty terrible across the BSC for games hosted across campus, just imagine how empty it will be now that it is being played hundreds of miles away from any of the universities. I'm sure that will look great on ESPN.

 

[mtgrizrule]

When UND joined the BSC, the first year they played, their women's team won the regular season title. There were teams who had enormous problems making connections to Grand Forks on short notice. I'm sure it isn't THAT easy to get a flight to Grand Forks on 2 months notice but to try to get 20+ people to GF on 2 days notice was quite daunting to say the least. I heard it took Sac St over 18 hours to get all their people there and they couldn't get them all there at the same time. The cost is obviously much greater for short notice flights, as are rooms etc. The logistics are unbelieveable when trying to get 20+ people x 8 teams plus all the officials and extra staff to a small place like Grand Forks. Reno might not be a picnic getting to but it is not going to present NEAR the problems that a place like GF does. Plus you have at least a year in advance to reserve transportation and lodging. It isn't just about the money but the money does come into play.

It is just a handful of Griz fans that continually think all the Conference does is $hit on them over and over....pretty typical for that bunch.

As much as I love the conference winner hosting the tournament, I understand and respect this decision. It also reduces the liklihood of a host team losing out early and attendance stinking for conference championship game on live tv, or the tournament being held at a not so good venue.

This will save the schools and conference a lot in expenses due to the advance arrangements that can be made. Hell, for the fans that want to save money, you can make arrangements a month to a year in advance and save money yourself over planning a quick trip. No argument from me with this, other than it does take away from the environment of having a host school.

So the solution to that issue is to hold the tournament where no fans will show up no matter what? Attendance is pretty terrible across the BSC for games hosted across campus, just imagine how empty it will be now that it is being played hundreds of miles away from any of the universities. I'm sure that will look great on ESPN.

The communities which hold the tournament work very hard to draw fans. Many of these venues take pride in the opportunity. I can only speak for myself. I know damn well if Missoula would won the bid for either tournament, I would have showed up even if the of U of M was not playing, simply to show pride and support for my community. Reno strikes me as a community which will support this well.

Hell, we cannot know more, one way or the other, until the conference tournament actually gets here again. When I worked for DTV then later Waste Management, those companies ran a lot of employee discounts and contests to make sure their bodies in the seats. Many smaller companies did the same for their employees. Why? To make sure the community looked good and better employee morale. Reno is a large enough city with thriving businesses that will support this, especially the bars, restaurants, and casinos. I honestly don't believe how skeptical and negative some people are, just because this no longer caters to the likes of Montana and Weber State. Speaking of Weber State, I hope to hear some Weber State fans comment on their thoughts of this.

How does this work for other small to mid sized conferences with neutral sites? How did this work pretty well before when the BSC have a predetermined site? Give it the benefit of your doubts, at the very least.