I usually dont agree with doc much, but he is exactly right...Its sad that the city college basketball team would rather play in another state, than the downtown arena. I dont blame uc one bit..I hope this raises a huge stink with the county or the city. I hope something can be done about the ownership group that owns usba. I wonder if there is anyway the city can force there hand into doing something about that dump. Its ugly for our riverfront, the aisles are to small to get by people. They dont even sell coca cola or pepsi, its RC cola!! It needs to go!

I'm actually good with RC Cola. But that's about all that US Bank Arena has going for it.

I'm sure the small faction that Harris was referring to that was afraid that UC fans would want to push games downtown was in the small minority. Not worth mentioning, unless of course you're bitter and want to paint one of the city's greatest assets and institutions as the bad guy.

Great column by doc. US Bank sucks. They have nobody to blame but themselves.

Best thing about the article, was that Doc didn't even feel the need to interject much of his opinion. He just let the facts do the talking this time.

(02-15-2017 07:02 AM)BJUnklFkr Wrote:  Best thing about the article, was that Doc didn't even feel the need to interject much of his opinion. He just let the facts do the talking this time.

In ok with Doc injecting his opinion because the fact is he writes an Op-Ed column so his opinion is part of the deal. Now, whether you agree with his opinion is a whole different situation.

I've been mulling this over and there is another positive factor to consider in the decision: GROWING the brand.

When I took my first parish, I originally interviewed in a Church on the KY side of the river. Things got off to a bad start when they met me at the airport and I said, "It's nice to be in Cincinnati!" Later, they told me that I would "have to" get lots of Kentucky blue for my wardrobe and I said, "I don't really care about UK, but I root for UC, so I'm good!" I didn't get that position.

My point is that northern KY IS part of the metro area. There is no reason why Covington and the surrounding towns should not be as important to UC as Hamilton County is.

I trust that UC will have more tact than I did.

This is one of those deals that no matter what you do you will not please everyone. As i've said, it's one season. Perspective is everything.

Harris also suggested that “certain factions’’ didn’t want to take UC basketball downtown because fans might see how much nicer it was on the river, and not be happy with the renovations uptown at Fifth Third Arena. “Maybe if they were used to coming downtown, they wouldn’t like their options’’ on campus, Harris said.

This is laughable. After the renovations 5/3rd is going to be top shelf, especially as it relates to college arenas.
Greater Cincy sports fans are well aware of downtown, USBA, GABP the Banks etc.

(02-15-2017 07:55 AM)BearcatJerry Wrote:  I've been mulling this over and there is another positive factor to consider in the decision: GROWING the brand.

When I took my first parish, I originally interviewed in a Church on the KY side of the river. Things got off to a bad start when they met me at the airport and I said, "It's nice to be in Cincinnati!" Later, they told me that I would "have to" get lots of Kentucky blue for my wardrobe and I said, "I don't really care about UK, but I root for UC, so I'm good!" I didn't get that position.

My point is that northern KY IS part of the metro area. There is no reason why Covington and the surrounding towns should not be as important to UC as Hamilton County is.

I trust that UC will have more tact than I did.

Excellent insight. This is an opportunity for UC to cultivate a relationship with many Northern Kentuckians and position it as an honor for UC to showcase our team and program south of the river. Done right, it will be about building the brand. IMO, part of that will be doing some special game day promotions to honor former great Bearcat players from Northern Kentucky. It's a unique time and place to create a shared sense of pride in those players' achievements that occurred on both sides of the river.

Boy the comments section in the P-Doc article sure is littered with a bunch of trolling by XU and UK fans.

(02-15-2017 07:55 AM)BearcatJerry Wrote:  I've been mulling this over and there is another positive factor to consider in the decision: GROWING the brand.

When I took my first parish, I originally interviewed in a Church on the KY side of the river. Things got off to a bad start when they met me at the airport and I said, "It's nice to be in Cincinnati!" Later, they told me that I would "have to" get lots of Kentucky blue for my wardrobe and I said, "I don't really care about UK, but I root for UC, so I'm good!" I didn't get that position.

My point is that northern KY IS part of the metro area. There is no reason why Covington and the surrounding towns should not be as important to UC as Hamilton County is.

I trust that UC will have more tact than I did.

Yep. We have a lot of opportunity to grow our brands in the two high population centers in the Tri-State-- NKY and also Butler/Warren county. We're not going to convert them all but even a modest bit of growth of the brand is a whole heck of a lot better than zero.

Not really interested in going to the "Sanctuary City"..

(02-15-2017 09:04 AM)OKIcat Wrote:  

(02-15-2017 07:55 AM)BearcatJerry Wrote:  I've been mulling this over and there is another positive factor to consider in the decision: GROWING the brand.

When I took my first parish, I originally interviewed in a Church on the KY side of the river. Things got off to a bad start when they met me at the airport and I said, "It's nice to be in Cincinnati!" Later, they told me that I would "have to" get lots of Kentucky blue for my wardrobe and I said, "I don't really care about UK, but I root for UC, so I'm good!" I didn't get that position.

My point is that northern KY IS part of the metro area. There is no reason why Covington and the surrounding towns should not be as important to UC as Hamilton County is.

I trust that UC will have more tact than I did.

Excellent insight. This is an opportunity for UC to cultivate a relationship with many Northern Kentuckians and position it as an honor for UC to showcase our team and program south of the river. Done right, it will be about building the brand. IMO, part of that will be doing some special game day promotions to honor former great Bearcat players from Northern Kentucky. It's a unique time and place to create a shared sense of pride in those players' achievements that occurred on both sides of the river.

Garnering new fans in NKY will be minimal. Getting to a final four would have a larger impact.

History shows that playing downtown was a disaster for the program when we left the
great atmosphere of the Armory Fieldhouse in the seventies. Thankfully we didn't entertain any enticements to repeat that mistake as a permanent new home and even for one season I think BB&T will provide more of a home court advantage than that
shoddy downtown venue.

(02-14-2017 01:18 PM)Hoops HD David Wrote:  When it comes to being displaced, this is about as good of an arrangement as you can get.

When teams like UCLA and Georgia Tech were able to play in their own cities, it was still kind of rough. The arenas were accommodating to the point to where if the NBA or hockey teams weren't using it, then they'd leave them the keys. I don't think the luxury boxes or premium seating was made available, and even if it was it was in a limited capacity, and all the event management fell on the schools. There's nothing really wrong with that, but there was no ice, no trainers, no concessions (there were, but it was on the schools to set it up and I don't think they got to keep it all), the floor logos and the signage was limited (which it may still be at NKU, but whatever). And, those are generally the best case scenarios.

Other scenarios involved Clemson having to play an hour away from campus all throughout last season, and Florida having to zigzag all over the state until about the midway point of this season, and TCU and SMU having to play in high school gyms, Rhode Island played all their games on Providence's home court a few years back (well, maybe more than a few), and so on. Hell the Chicago Bears had to play all their games in Champaign one season.

So, when you're unable to use your home because it's being renovated, the best you can hope for is for someone to leave you their keys and let you use their place on the nights that it's available, and hope that they don't gouge you too much in the process.

Playing at NKU is painless. I bet they're actually happy to be hosting Cincinnati, and probably didn't try to take advantage of the situation like a lot of other venues would have. Another thing to consider is that the Horizon League has a deal with ESPN, and everything in the arena meets the specifications that I'm sure are also required for the AAC's deal. The last time I was at US Bank for a game, I'm under the impression that specifications were not met. ESPN can certainly make it work, but it's easier when the wifi, and the press box, and the multimedia amenities are all up to date. So, the AAC and ESPN are probably happy as well.

Not to mention, NKU is probably willing to make their premium seating options available, which can help with sponsorship, not to mention making the big time boosters happy. Yeah, it's in a different state, but as a state institution UC owes it to itself and to the state to make the best deal it can for itself. If that deal is available right across hte river then so be it.

It's close, and it's nice. You don't have to drive for an hour to another city, nor do you have to let the management from an off campus arena gouge you. It's a good deal considering the circumstance. It really is. I'm sure Cincinnati will throw a few home games NKU's way, so they get something out of it too.

Excellent perspective

nm