If rumors/speculation are true about the Benson/Waters meeting; in that Benson was actually looking for a soft landing for La Tech and NMSU rather than inviting UNT to join the sinking WAC. Where should the Championship game be played

Note: the addition of these schools along with USA will push the Belt to 12 teams in 2012.

My understanding is that Mobile REALLY gets behind its bowl game and supports it thru advertising and community support.

Plus its probably right in the middle of the confrence.

Althought I have to admit Best record would probably make sense since that might have the most draw.

Whatever would look like less crap on TV would get my vote.

What Championship game?

Dallas? Nah, our footprint is mainly in the Southeast. Kind of an outlier city.
Miami? Might be a nice trip. But kind of an outlier city.
Mobile? Would be nice for USA fans, but it'd probably be a while before USA made it there. I don't know how well Mobile would support this.
New Orleans? Conference Headquarters are there, but I don't think New Orleans cares. Look at the NO Bowl.
Site of Best Record? I could go with this one. Would draw well and not look as bad on TV.

My choice isn't listed: Hot Springs. The people of Hot Springs really support our conference and get behind this league. Did anyone notice the standing room only at the SB Basketball Championship last year? Amazing support!

(11-23-2010 03:49 PM)SkullyMaroo Wrote:  What Championship game?

Dallas? Nah, our footprint is mainly in the Southeast. Kind of an outlier city.
Miami? Might be a nice trip. But kind of an outlier city.
Mobile? Would be nice for USA fans, but it'd probably be a while before USA made it there. I don't know how well Mobile would support this.
New Orleans? Conference Headquarters are there, but I don't think New Orleans cares. Look at the NO Bowl.
Site of Best Record? I could go with this one. Would draw well and not look as bad on TV.

My choice isn't listed: Hot Springs. The people of Hot Springs really support our conference and get behind this league. Did anyone notice the standing room only at the SB Basketball Championship last year? Amazing support!

Hot Springs does have 2 different nearby High School Fields we could use...

Site of best record, its the only way to go here...

Why would Benson knowingly put himself out of a job? If Tech and NMSU leave, the WAC is done.

(11-23-2010 08:25 PM)dchi72 Wrote:  Why would Benson knowingly put himself out of a job? If Tech and NMSU leave, the WAC is done.

First let me acknowledge that I'm fully aware of the jokes/fear that this will create, but to pull on this bizarre thread a little further what if...?

Benson knows the WACs days are numbered, one way or the other, he sees the writing on the wall. So he approaches Wright Waters about placing La Tech and NMSU in the Sun Belt, on the condition that Benson has a nice cushy job with the Sun Belt when the move is completed. I would have to say, of all the miscalculations and blunders Benson has made, this move would actually be pretty sound on his part. Lessen the blow of losing your job and destroying a conference by "improving" another conference and already landing your next job.

How about at Commissioner Waters' high school?

What about Nashville?

I have three suggestions and this is just my opinion, and they are Little Rock, Mobile and New Orleans. I feel Little Rock should be given serious consideration.

(11-24-2010 08:33 AM)SidJag Wrote:  I have three suggestions and this is just my opinion, and they are Little Rock, Mobile and New Orleans. I feel Little Rock should be given serious consideration.

Why Little Rock?

(11-24-2010 08:43 AM)FIUFan Wrote:  

(11-24-2010 08:33 AM)SidJag Wrote:  I have three suggestions and this is just my opinion, and they are Little Rock, Mobile and New Orleans. I feel Little Rock should be given serious consideration.

Why Little Rock?

it's a sun belt home field.

I was thinking that War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock would be a good venue and a fairly central location if the SBC went to 12 teams. I've been to a couple of games there and thought would be a good place. I really prefer New Orleans, but someone (Skully) questioned whether N.O. really cares.

Ok, I will play the championship game game.

A lot of good responses concerning attendance and how it would appear on television and that will go a long way towards perception. Also, travel can be a detriment. So, here are my thoughts and feel free to hammer them....I know you will!!

New Orleans: Home to one of our bowl games and home to the conference headquarters. Fun town to party in and plenty of things to do. Good to support a bowl game site. Problem, how much local support would we get? Also, even if we brought 30,000 in for the game, it would still look empty....the Superdome is huge.

Mobile: Home to one of our bowl games. They (Mobile) support bowl games. Good to support a bowl game site. More centrally located. Holds around 45,000 so a good crowd (30,000) would look good on TV.

Little Rock: No bowl game. A little off as far a centrally located. How much would they support the game, especially if Ark St isn't there? Stadium is nice (went there for the ULM Ark game). Seats 55,000 so a good crowd (30,000) wouldn't look too bad on TV but still just over half full.

Dallas/Miami: Non-starters in my opinion. Outliers as far as the conference goes. Would have to use a large stadium. Attendance would look terrible. Travel much harder unless it is local teams. Dallas would require one of the Louisana schools, Ark St, or NT for decent travel. Miami would require FIU or FAU. Everyone else is a hump!!

Best record: Rewards success. Good crowd would look good on TV (easier to fill our current stadiums). With the construction that is going on and the current stadiums, the stadiums would look pretty good on TV. Problem again is travel depending on who the team with the best record.

I say, if for some reason we end up with 12 and a championship game, we go for Mobile.

Fire away.:noisycricket:

I picked N.O. because I thought it was the best, but then someone said War Memorial in L.R. I think that would be better and the reason for that is because of the stadium size. If the game is in a huge professional football stadium somewhere it is going to look EMPTY if there is 30,000 people there. If it is in War Memorial then it'll look better since it only holds about 55,000. War Memorial is actually a really nice stadium too. I like the idea of having a championship game that is in a permanent location, that's why I didn't pick the stadium of the best team.

A neutral site with the ability to tarp seats if the crowd is light.

How about Ruston. Got some hopping night life.

(11-24-2010 10:09 AM)bmwilder139 Wrote:  I picked N.O. because I thought it was the best, but then someone said War Memorial in L.R. I think that would be better and the reason for that is because of the stadium size. If the game is in a huge professional football stadium somewhere it is going to look EMPTY if there is 30,000 people there. If it is in War Memorial then it'll look better since it only holds about 55,000. War Memorial is actually a really nice stadium too. I like the idea of having a championship game that is in a permanent location, that's why I didn't pick the stadium of the best team.

to top it off, if ULM ever makes it to the championship game it will be just like a home game for y'all

The Championship game should be hosted by the team with the best conference record with the tie breaker being best overall record against FBS schools. This way you reward the school/city with extra revenue and promote the Sun Belt to current students and future alumni.

When the attendance goes above 50,000 move the game to Miami or Ft. Lauderdale. Remember the game will be played in December. South Beach or West Palm anyone?

The best venue is the home turf of the team with the best conference record. This will keep cost down for what is historically a non-revnue generator for non-AQ conferences. I would also venture to say that the SBC home office should work to offer a travel subsidy to the visiting team to help with travel and accomodations for the visiting team and up to 300 fans (excluding employees of the visiting team and their immediate family) of the visiting team. A $30,000 subsidy, mostly tied to sponsorship dollars, should be helpful.

Either way it goes, we (the SBC) have to work to position ourselves for more. With the WAC in flux, things are ripe for us to act. Acting now will give us leverage to negotiate our tv deals and get much more money per team (as the WAC is in the process of reworking its ESPN deal and with less teams to maintain a conference if the SBC acted now, we would have the levarge to secure the WAC's time slots). We could do a deal whereby we can get ESPN or FOX national television games on ESPN2 or FOX Sports both midweek and weekend. We can also get certain other weekend games slotted. Then, we can provide ESPN or FOX with a right of first refusal on certain flex weekend games that can be broadcast on ESPN Gameplan. If the flex games are refused, we can agree that those flex games can be broadcast within our regional footprint through our Sunbelt TV joint venture with Cox and Comcast (so long as such broadcast are not transmitted at the same time as the airing of any SBC games on ESPN or FOX). I believe that such a deal would be VERY FAVORABLE to the SBC. Also, this deal wouldn't work unless we added MTN Time Zone member NMSU...and UTSA.

Asheville, NC

I agree, I like the game being played at the school with the best record. Not only does it reward the best team it also makes for a better atmosphere playing at home for the championship and the automatic bowl game on possibly ESPN.

The Superdome is just to big, plus the winner will most likely play there in the bowl game.