Desingated playoff sites

[lotsa]

Will the success of UM hosting the tournament help or hurt our bid to be a permanent site? There are good arguments on both sides of the issue.

What other venues under consideration have the experience UM has in hosting the Big Sky tourney? What other location would put the numbers we did this weekend in the stands? If you add to that the general sports sophistication of the UM fans the site would also provide proper support (its never great) for other teams when the host is not in or not in contention. Finally, Missoula is an easy and fun place to travel to.

Coaches in the league would fight to keep our home court advantage from being institutionalized. No one can say that both the men and women were greatly advantaged by being in Missoula.

This last point may dispose of the question regardless of the objective scorecard on our bid.

 

[PlayerRep]

Salt Lake City would probably have bigger attendance for men's games, given Weber's presence, the number of hoops fans there, and the somewhat central location with good air service. I heard that UM was focusing on the women's tournament.

I thought the tourney was very well run this year. I didn't notice any glitches or have any complaints (and I was at all 14 games). The Sky Club is a nice bonus for lounging between games, had pretty good food, was quite active and fun at times, and I'm sure was appreciated by Big Sky officials, referees, and athletic department people at the other schools. I assume they were able to get their (free) meals at the Sky Club.

 

[fanofzoo]

Will the success of UM hosting the tournament help or hurt our bid to be a permanent site? There are good arguments on both sides of the issue.

What other venues under consideration have the experience UM has in hosting the Big Sky tourney? What other location would put the numbers we did this weekend in the stands? If you add to that the general sports sophistication of the UM fans the site would also provide proper support (its never great) for other teams when the host is not in or not in contention. Finally, Missoula is an easy and fun place to travel to.

Coaches in the league would fight to keep our home court advantage from being institutionalized. No one can say that both the men and women were greatly advantaged by being in Missoula.

This last point may dispose of the question regardless of the objective scorecard on our bid.

How many people would show up if we weren't in the game?

 

[GoldStandardGriz]

Will the success of UM hosting the tournament help or hurt our bid to be a permanent site? There are good arguments on both sides of the issue.

What other venues under consideration have the experience UM has in hosting the Big Sky tourney? What other location would put the numbers we did this weekend in the stands? If you add to that the general sports sophistication of the UM fans the site would also provide proper support (its never great) for other teams when the host is not in or not in contention. Finally, Missoula is an easy and fun place to travel to.

Coaches in the league would fight to keep our home court advantage from being institutionalized. No one can say that both the men and women were greatly advantaged by being in Missoula.

This last point may dispose of the question regardless of the objective scorecard on our bid.

How many people would show up if we weren't in the game?

^This^

 

[EverettGriz]

Will the success of UM hosting the tournament help or hurt our bid to be a permanent site? There are good arguments on both sides of the issue.

What other venues under consideration have the experience UM has in hosting the Big Sky tourney? What other location would put the numbers we did this weekend in the stands? If you add to that the general sports sophistication of the UM fans the site would also provide proper support (its never great) for other teams when the host is not in or not in contention. Finally, Missoula is an easy and fun place to travel to.

Coaches in the league would fight to keep our home court advantage from being institutionalized. No one can say that both the men and women were greatly advantaged by being in Missoula.

This last point may dispose of the question regardless of the objective scorecard on our bid.

How many people would show up if we weren't in the game?

The games not involving UM had decent crowds all weekend. Obviously not 7,000, but Missoula is a good sports town and I think people will attend games even if the Griz aren't playing.

A better question might be, how many people are going to show up at a neutral site in A town that has no connection to the conference?

 

[fanofzoo]

Will the success of UM hosting the tournament help or hurt our bid to be a permanent site? There are good arguments on both sides of the issue.

What other venues under consideration have the experience UM has in hosting the Big Sky tourney? What other location would put the numbers we did this weekend in the stands? If you add to that the general sports sophistication of the UM fans the site would also provide proper support (its never great) for other teams when the host is not in or not in contention. Finally, Missoula is an easy and fun place to travel to.

Coaches in the league would fight to keep our home court advantage from being institutionalized. No one can say that both the men and women were greatly advantaged by being in Missoula.

This last point may dispose of the question regardless of the objective scorecard on our bid.

How many people would show up if we weren't in the game?

The games not involving UM had decent crowds all weekend. Obviously not 7,000, but Missoula is a good sports town and I think people will attend games even if the Griz aren't playing.

A better question might be, how many people are going to show up at a neutral site in A town that has no connection to the conference?

Maybe about 25 less than what would show here, it's a very bad idea.

 

[PlayerRep]

How many conferences don't have pre-selected tourney sites? Just curious. I suppose that pre-selected sites wouldn't have to be neutral sites. Don't think playing in SLC would be neutral, by the way.

 

[fanofzoo]

Ok looking for some help here.
How could any league school be a neutral site?

What you finish last and could host, yeah that's fair.

 

[HelenaHandBasket]

Ok looking for some help here.
How could any league school be a neutral site?

What you finish last and could host, yeah that's fair.

The plan is not for a neutral site, it is for a predetermined site.

 

[fanofzoo]

Ok looking for some help here.
How could any league school be a neutral site?

What you finish last and could host, yeah that's fair.

The plan is not for a neutral site, it is for a predetermined site.

Ok see above.

 

[clawman]

On Saturday morning I was talking with a member of the Sac State staff that was staying at the same hotel as I was. We touched on the topic of fixed location for the tournament. They had to take a bus to Spokane to fly home and arrive there about 9pm Saturday, kin of an all day adventure to get home. The ticket price was 750 per person. Probably a similar story for every team in the tournament that could not bus to Missoula. Now imagine if the tournament was in Grand Forks, Flagstaff, Cedar City, or, or, or. Fans have the same challenges. Parents of many of the players can not afford to pay 1500 in airfare because of the last minute purchase.
It is time for a fixed location.

 

[DPGriz]

On Saturday morning I was talking with a member of the Sac State staff that was staying at the same hotel as I was. We touched on the topic of fixed location for the tournament. They had to take a bus to Spokane to fly home and arrive there about 9pm Saturday, kin of an all day adventure to get home. The ticket price was 750 per person. Probably a similar story for every team in the tournament that could not bus to Missoula. Now imagine if the tournament was in Grand Forks, Flagstaff, Cedar City, or, or, or. Fans have the same challenges. Parents of many of the players can not afford to pay 1500 in airfare because of the last minute purchase.
It is time for a fixed location.

How much does it cost to provide 13 scholarships, to pay coaches, to go on recruiting trips? There are costs associated with athletic programs, if teams have a problem forking over money to attend the conference championship then they shouldn't be in D1. Awarding the conference champ the tournament adds to importance of the regular season and creates a ensures a great atmosphere for the conference tourney (so long as the host team makes the finals).

The fact that many of the teams in the conference would rather play in an empty arena in Reno just to save a couple bucks says a lot about the priorities of their athletic departments.

 

[PlayerRep]

Of the 32 conferences, 6 don't have a pre-determined site. Besides the Big Sky, America East, Atlantic Sun, Horizon, Northeast, and Patriot. The Ivies don't have a tourney. 4 tournies in Las Vegas. None in SLC.

http://www.egriz.com/grizboard/posting.php?mode=reply&f=2&t=69905" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[EverettGriz]

I'd rather do away with the tournament all together as opposed to holding it at predetermined site. But of course, that'll never happen because the BSC brass need the cashola the tournament gets them.

If they really cared about competition and what's best for the student, that's what would happen. But you know, those lease payments on the new Lexus aren't going to pay themselves.

 

[DPGriz]

I'd rather do away with the tournament all together as opposed to holding it at predetermined site. But of course, that'll never happen because the BSC brass need the cashola the tournament gets them.

If they really cared about competition and what's best for the student, that's what would happen. But you know, those lease payments on the new Lexus aren't going to pay themselves.

I wouldn't have minded just crowning the regular season back when the Big Sky had a double round-robin season but now the schedule plays too big of a factor in the regular season championship.

 

[EverettGriz]

I'd rather do away with the tournament all together as opposed to holding it at predetermined site. But of course, that'll never happen because the BSC brass need the cashola the tournament gets them.

If they really cared about competition and what's best for the student, that's what would happen. But you know, those lease payments on the new Lexus aren't going to pay themselves.

I wouldn't have minded just crowning the regular season back when the Big Sky had a double round-robin season but now the schedule plays too big of a factor in the regular season championship.

That would be fixed with the extra week of play not having the tournament would provide.

 

[Potomac Griz]

The big difference between the Big Sky and many (not all) of the conferences that do have pre-determined sites is that those teams often draw interest from outside of their state too. For example, watching Arizona play Oregon in Las Vegas is going to draw a nice crowd.

Montana vs EWU in Salt Lake City....yeah...probably not.

Very likely we'd be playing in front of under 2000 people. That on TV in an arena that holds 10000 (or whatever the pre-determined site will hold) will look like an absolute joke.

Seems a better alternative would be to cut down on the number of teams in the tournament to 6 (not all 12 like what's planned), continue hosting it at the school who wins the Big Sky regular season title (unless they don't have adequate facilities then the 2nd place teams gets to host) and enjoy a better chance of having a good crowd for the championship game & not looking like an absolute joke of a conference.

 

[Yukon]

Of the 32 conferences, 6 don't have a pre-determined site. Besides the Big Sky, America East, Atlantic Sun, Horizon, Northeast, and Patriot. The Ivies don't have a tourney. 4 tournies in Las Vegas. None in SLC.

http://www.egriz.com/grizboard/posting.php?mode=reply&f=2&t=69905" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I also noticed 4 tourney's in Vegas and most games I watched had a good crowed.

 

[Grizzlies1982]

Unless they selected Weber St or Montana to host, the predetermined site will greatly reduce attendance at the tournament. With that said, I can't believe any other school would support giving the home court advantage to the Griz or Wildcats. So that is out the window and reduced attendance is a given.

As mentioned above Salt Lake City has the advantage of being a somewhat central location, with excellent air access. None the less it is essentially a home game for Weber which might cause the other schools to oppose it. Nor would SLC generate much in terms of local ticket sales. Being an airline hub for Delta is their best selling point.

Of the other cities considered Reno, Spokane and Billings air fares and access would be about equal between them. Naturally I'd prefer to see it in Billings. It has an excellent venue (the Metra), plenty of accommodations for the teams and fans, and would have more local fan interest in Big Sky BBall than those other options. That being said I doubt they will select it.

 

[DPGriz]

I'd rather do away with the tournament all together as opposed to holding it at predetermined site. But of course, that'll never happen because the BSC brass need the cashola the tournament gets them.

If they really cared about competition and what's best for the student, that's what would happen. But you know, those lease payments on the new Lexus aren't going to pay themselves.

I wouldn't have minded just crowning the regular season back when the Big Sky had a double round-robin season but now the schedule plays too big of a factor in the regular season championship.

That would be fixed with the extra week of play not having the tournament would provide.

The Big Sky would have to add 6 conference games (from 18 to 22) which only leaves 5 nonconference games (I believe the limit is 29), I just don't see that being workable. Plus I'd rather have the dates against, Boise, North Dakota State, Davidson, ect... than more games against Idaho St and Southern Utah.