(03-14-2017 03:34 PM)Sultan of Euphonistan Wrote:  

(03-14-2017 02:45 PM)kreed5120 Wrote:  

(03-14-2017 02:20 PM)Sultan of Euphonistan Wrote:  Honestly I have never been a fan of Columbus. Never liked getting around it, never found it to be a nice looking city, and the place to me just has no character. Most of that does not really apply in a discussion about whether to have a tournament there more to why I hate going there to see family (like the family don't like the location).

As for the tournament I think Columbus would not be good for attendance or exposure compared to Cleveland. I think that the exposure would be roughly the same so not a real improvement. In terms of getting people there I think the direct proximity of Ohio State would be problematic as it is not just close to the city but actually IN the city. Also the city would be closer to OU students but I am not sure it would be that much better overall for OU since Cleveland has a large number of OU alumni that I think it is closer to a wash than you might think. It would be slightly better for Miami and Ball State but I am not sure it would be that beneficial to them. It would be a wash at best for Toledo, BG, and the Michigans I think and NIU is far from any location we choose outside of Chicago so it would not matter to them either. IT would certainly be worse for Akron, Kent, and Buffalo.

I just do not see it as being better than Cleveland for our purpose. The only two cities that make sense are Detroit and Cleveland. Detroit already has a basketball tournament there for the Horizon so I think putting a second one there would be a mistake. Considering how it has been doing in Cleveland I think moving it would be a big mistake. The MAC final game had better attendance than most of our competitors even in conferences that are better basketball conferences that typically have more attendance like the AAC.

+1

This years Big 10 tournament championship drew 12,902. That is roughly ~4k less than what they pulled in Chicago and Indy the prior two years. This is what happens when you try to get too cute with destinations.

Wow that is only 2k more than the MAC had.

We did well. Pulled comparable numbers to the MVC which featured 2 really great teams and we outperformed the WCC who had 2 ranked teams.

MAC - 10,376
C-USA - 6,176
SunBelt - TBD (Played in 10,000 arena that was not even close to being full)
CAA - 6,342
Horizon League - 5,929
WCC - 8,179
B1G - 12,902
MVC - 11,744

(03-14-2017 04:11 PM)kreed5120 Wrote:  

(03-14-2017 03:34 PM)Sultan of Euphonistan Wrote:  

(03-14-2017 02:45 PM)kreed5120 Wrote:  

(03-14-2017 02:20 PM)Sultan of Euphonistan Wrote:  Honestly I have never been a fan of Columbus. Never liked getting around it, never found it to be a nice looking city, and the place to me just has no character. Most of that does not really apply in a discussion about whether to have a tournament there more to why I hate going there to see family (like the family don't like the location).

As for the tournament I think Columbus would not be good for attendance or exposure compared to Cleveland. I think that the exposure would be roughly the same so not a real improvement. In terms of getting people there I think the direct proximity of Ohio State would be problematic as it is not just close to the city but actually IN the city. Also the city would be closer to OU students but I am not sure it would be that much better overall for OU since Cleveland has a large number of OU alumni that I think it is closer to a wash than you might think. It would be slightly better for Miami and Ball State but I am not sure it would be that beneficial to them. It would be a wash at best for Toledo, BG, and the Michigans I think and NIU is far from any location we choose outside of Chicago so it would not matter to them either. IT would certainly be worse for Akron, Kent, and Buffalo.

I just do not see it as being better than Cleveland for our purpose. The only two cities that make sense are Detroit and Cleveland. Detroit already has a basketball tournament there for the Horizon so I think putting a second one there would be a mistake. Considering how it has been doing in Cleveland I think moving it would be a big mistake. The MAC final game had better attendance than most of our competitors even in conferences that are better basketball conferences that typically have more attendance like the AAC.

+1

This years Big 10 tournament championship drew 12,902. That is roughly ~4k less than what they pulled in Chicago and Indy the prior two years. This is what happens when you try to get too cute with destinations.

Wow that is only 2k more than the MAC had.

We did well. Pulled comparable numbers to the MVC which featured 2 really great teams and we outperformed the WCC who had 2 ranked teams.

MAC - 10,376
C-USA - 6,176
SunBelt - TBD (Played in 10,000 arena that was not even close to being full)
CAA - 6,342
Horizon League - 5,929
WCC - 8,179
B1G - 12,902
MVC - 11,744

We also should mention that the MVC tournament is much like ours where it put in a good city for many schools (less so now than it used to be with the defections from that conference) with some tradition there, and it is a large city as well. That is a good place for them.

I bet the tournament would get a bigger turnout in Athens than Toledo.

We have previously tried all these other cities that people are suggesting. Toledo, Detroit, Columbus. Cleveland has been far and away superior in every way to all those cities. Holding both tournaments together is also perfect. If you played the women a week earlier, it would be in direct conflict with the last two regular season men's games. The Q is far superior to any of those facilities, and is the home of the NBA champs and the best player in the world. It is exciting just to play in that arena. There is no powerful local program (like Michigan for Detroit or Ohio State for Columbus or UC and X for Cincy) so college fans in Cleveland are more into the MAC tournament than they would be in those other cities. There are probably not as many local neutral fans who attend the MAC tourney as when it first came, but every year at the championship game I would guess there are 3 or 4,000 locals who do show up. Most of the people where I was sitting on Saturday were neutral fans.

It was brought to my attention that we bested the AAC as well. Their title game attracted only 6,856.

(03-14-2017 06:49 PM)perimeterpost Wrote:  I bet the tournament would get a bigger turnout in Athens than Toledo.

I agree. Athens has Jackie O's.

(03-14-2017 06:49 PM)perimeterpost Wrote:  I bet the tournament would get a bigger turnout in Athens than Toledo.

Yeah, you wish Athens had any bit of relevancy. They should just call it OU-Oh-Yeah.

Lets not talk about the seagate 20 years ago. Thats now the 7th best concert venue and 3rd best sporting venue in the city. Different times.