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Spokane Arena proposing neutral BSC site

S

Silvertip

Well-known member
Today's 5/25 Bozeman Chronicle says the proposal will be discussed at today and tomorrow's BSC meetings in SLC. Sounds like a great idea - bigger crowds and an actual D-1 venue not available in most of the conference. Griz fans would dig it for sure.
 
Those meetings were last week, no decision was made onthe site of the BSC Men's Basketball Trournament, they did however change back to the Thursday Saturday format for conference games.
 
Why?

What's the incentive for winning the conference regular season? If it's just seeding, there isn't much of a difference between the 3-6 seeds in the Big Sky.

Why would any of the schools besides EWU be in favor when hosting the tournament is a nice little boost to the local economy and good PR?

Never heard of the Spokane Arena, but it can't be much greater than UM, MSU, or Weber's arenas. It's not like attendance is an issue so they need a bigger arena, right.
 
Spokane Arena is a much nicer facility than UM or MSU. Can not comment on Weebs since I have only seen it from the outside.
 
General Disarray said:
Why?

What's the incentive for winning the conference regular season? If it's just seeding, there isn't much of a difference between the 3-6 seeds in the Big Sky.

Why would any of the schools besides EWU be in favor when hosting the tournament is a nice little boost to the local economy and good PR?

Never heard of the Spokane Arena, but it can't be much greater than UM, MSU, or Weber's arenas. It's not like attendance is an issue so they need a bigger arena, right.
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Spokane Area seats just under 12,000 for basketball, according to its website. It is an ncaa basketball tournament site.
 
The Spokane Arena and the Adams Center aren't even comparable. The Arena is much nicer. According to Wikipedia, it holds 12,210 for b-ball games. Not sure which is right, the website or Wikipedia. Wikipedia lists everything higher than the website does, and also includes arena football.. That makes me think the Arena's website has old numbers.

I'd love this idea, but it seems like it's really giving the shaft to other conference schools that are farther away (NAU, Weber, ISU, Sac).
 
Neutral sites are big money losers for the conference, especially if they are located away from the fan bases of the teams most likely to be in the championship. Recently, that's been Weber State and the Montana schools. The Big Sky went to their current set up because their conference tournament was losing so much money. The conference now requires the host team to pony up, I think it's $185 K, to cover the travel costs of the rest of the teams that play in the tournament. The only way I could see a neutral site working is if the arena itself fronted all the travel costs for the teams. And I think that offer would last about a year, after the arena found out how much money it would lose on the tournament.
 
I like it, probably because I only have a three hour drive to Spokane. Spokane would be a more desirable location than other BSC citys for the fan...pretty good restaurants, some good bars, can fly in, lots of accomidations, plenty of lag time to prepare and if filled, would look a hell of a lot better on TV than some of the other BSC arenas. If they pick up the travel expenses it could really be sweet. :thumb:
 
Two huge "ifs" there-- if the Arena picked up the travel costs, and "If" the arena were full. The Weber-Montana championship game drew only 6,300 fans for a Wildcat home game. If those two teams met in Spokane for the championship, you'd probably be looking at a crowd of around 5 K or so.
 
Ideally this is great. Seriously, does it really matter what the conference does for the the conference tournament? Other than Weber State, Montana, and Montana State I do not see enough fan interest to support a neutral site to make this worth the efforts.

Honestly to God, our conference tournament games are an embarassment compared to other conference tournaments. Unless the conference lucks out and gets a final matchup with any combination of WSU, Montana, and Montana State the crowd and atmosphere sucks. Would this really help any at all ?

Personally, this is great for me and I am sure for other fans that live away from their respected hometown college. it is too damn expensive for me to plan a trip or flights on short notice to any of the BSC venues. At least with a neautral site we can plan ahead and save money in the process. That alone will motivate me to try making the tournament games. If the GRIZ happen to disappoint I have friends in Spokane I could see.

However, I love college basketball and would probably take in every conference tournament game, with or without the GRIZ playing. If this is about avid regional fans, this is a great move. I just do not see that much interest with that many hardcore basketball fans in this conference to make this a profitable decision that would be better for the conference. Maybe with some things Spokane has to offer and expenses being lower for technology, tv, etc this may get much bettter national coverage from ESPN with more games and better time slots. If that is the case, this would make more sense.

No matter the outocome of this, I just want Big Sky Conference basketball to be fun again. Sorry, but top to bottom the WAC and MWC basketball atmosphere and tournaments are so much better than we have.
 
General Disarray said:
Why?

What's the incentive for winning the conference regular season? If it's just seeding, there isn't much of a difference between the 3-6 seeds in the Big Sky.

Why would any of the schools besides EWU be in favor when hosting the tournament is a nice little boost to the local economy and good PR?

Never heard of the Spokane Arena, but it can't be much greater than UM, MSU, or Weber's arenas. It's not like attendance is an issue so they need a bigger arena, right.
Click to expand...

You are a moron. Never heard of it? So, it must not be that big, right?

In fact, it CAN be much greater than U of M and MSU AND Weber. It seats at least 12,000 people. I wasn't aware that any Big Sky conference basketball team had any more than 12,000 regular, dedicated fans.

The only reason I am skeptical of this plan is that Spokane hosts the NCAA regional every 3 years. They get some quality basketball games (like this year, Texas A and M, Michigan State, Purdue) that are attended by travelling fans and local Spokies. What's the draw for a Big Sky conference tourney? Will the conference fans even fill out the arena?
 
I just don't think this would be successful from an attendance standpoint. However, little else the conference has tried from an attendance standpoint has been successful either, so what the hell.

I know that the BSC is trying to get more national attention and TV time for their tournament, and they only way they are going to get that is if ESPN can know months in advance where the tournament will be held. While I tend to agree with the, "so what value is the regular season conference title?" argument, I think it may be worthy of a chance to see if this will benefit the conference long-term.
 
bengal said:
Two huge "ifs" there-- if the Arena picked up the travel costs, and "If" the arena were full. The Weber-Montana championship game drew only 6,300 fans for a Wildcat home game. If those two teams met in Spokane for the championship, you'd probably be looking at a crowd of around 5 K or so.
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Exactly. There were 6,308 fans sitting in a 12,000 capacity building for the last Big Sky Conference championship game and that was a game including the host Weber. Weber is one of the most accessible locations in the Big Sky in terms of being centrally located geographically and next to a major airline hub. If there's not enough fan interest under those circumstances, then I think moving the game and making everyone travel is a surefire way to reduce the attendance further.
 
Also the Big Sky being a one only bid conference wont help the decision, with giving the 1st place team the chance to host the tourney, it gives the Big Sky a better chance of getting thier best team into the Dance. And the attendance would be a factor if like said before if Weber can only get 6,300 into the seats, (sure seemed more than that though). What if the championship game was between UNC and NAU? It would be like watching a game played at the Stott Center.

No I think the way it is now is the right way and I want them to keep it that way. The fight to host is the reason Big Sky basketball is as entertaining as it is to watch.
 
WILDCATFAN said:
Also the Big Sky being a one only bid conference wont help the decision, with giving the 1st place team the chance to host the tourney, it gives the Big Sky a better chance of getting thier best team into the Dance. And the attendance would be a factor if like said before if Weber can only get 6,300 into the seats, (sure seemed more than that though). What if the championship game was between UNC and NAU? It would be like watching a game played at the Stott Center.

No I think the way it is now is the right way and I want them to keep it that way. The fight to host is the reason Big Sky basketball is as entertaining as it is to watch.
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Entertaining.......not! Interesting or suspenseful, maybe. :thumb:
 
ilovethecats said:
you guys are missing the point here. off campus arena means beer right? i'm in. :thumb:
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Funny, but a misconception. Adams Center sells beer and drinks at every basketball game - you just have to go to the sky club. They also sold beer at a pre-game tailgate in the WAG before the Cat game this year, which was great and I hope they continue next year, including opening up again at 1/2 time. Schools can sell alcohol at NCAA BB games, just need the right catering permits and willingness to do so.
 
Grizbeer said:
ilovethecats said:
you guys are missing the point here. off campus arena means beer right? i'm in. :thumb:
Click to expand...
Funny, but a misconception. Adams Center sells beer and drinks at every basketball game - you just have to go to the sky club. They also sold beer at a pre-game tailgate in the WAG before the Cat game this year, which was great and I hope they continue next year, including opening up again at 1/2 time. Schools can sell alcohol at NCAA BB games, just need the right catering permits and willingness to do so.
Click to expand...

ya i understand that but i'm talking about being able to sit your but in your seat with a cold beer while the game is being played. i went to a game this past winter between naia lewis clark state and the university of idaho. it was played in boise and was taking place the day before boise state was to host a bowl game. because of this the place was packed with sports fans with no real interest in the two teams other than the fact that it was sports. it was a great environment and the beer was flowing. i'm just a big fan of arenas and ballparks where i can be lazy, and enjoy a cold one without moving. :thumb:
 
If you go to an NCAA game at the Spokane Arena, you might have to drink your beer in the beer garden.
You can drink in your seat at other events such as hockey and indoor football.
 
I love the Spokane Arena, and it being closer to Missoula than any Big Sky opponent (tie with MSU?), I'd be all for it, but I agree with most;attendance would likely be a joke without EWU or the Griz being in the championship.

Also won't Gonzaga likely be hosting the WCC championship just a few blocks away at the same time? It would be fun with 2 tournies going on so close-by, but would likely be embarassing seeing the WCC championship packed to the rafters at Gonzaga, featuring Gonzaga vs. Santa Clara let's say, and about 500 fans in a 12,000 seat Arena watching NAU vs. UNC for example. I'm sure they wouldn't schedule the championship games at the same time,but still.
 
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