Using two courts? What is the convention center court, as opposed to the Summit Arena Court ?

http://www.dnj.com/article/20090829/SPOR...ll+tourney

Sun Belt Conference Men’s Basketball Championship Schedule of Events

Saturday, March 6
Game 1 – 2:15 p.m. – No. 8 Seed vs. No. 9 Seed (Summit Arena)
Game 2 – 6:30 p.m. – No. 4 Seed vs. No. 13 Seed (Summit Arena)
Game 3 – 6:45 p.m. – No. 5 Seed vs. No. 12 Seed (Convention Center Court)
Game 4 – 8:45 p.m. – No. 6 Seed vs. No. 11 Seed (Summit Arena)
Game 5 – 9:00 p.m. – No. 7 Seed vs. No. 10 Seed (Convention Center Court)

Sunday, March 7
Game 6 – 6:30 p.m. – No. 1 Seed vs. Winner Game 1 (Summit Arena)
Game 7 – 6:45 p.m. – Winner Game 2 vs. Winner Game 3 (Convention Center Court)
Game 8 – 8:45 p.m. – No. 2 Seed vs. Winner Game 5 (Summit Arena)
Game 9 – 9:00 p.m. – No. 3 Seed vs. Winner Game 4 (Convention Center Court)

Monday, March 8
Game 10 – 6:30 p.m. – Winner Game 6 vs. Winner Game 7 (Summit Arena) – ESPN+
Game 11 – 8:45 p.m. – Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 9 (Summit Arena) – ESPN+

Tuesday, March 9
Championship Game – 6 p.m. (Summit Arena) – ESPN2

All times central and subject to change

Sun Belt Conference Women’s Basketball Championship Schedule of Events

Saturday, March 6
Game 1 – 9:45 a.m. – No. 4 Seed vs. No. 13 Seed (Summit Arena)
Game 2 – 10:00 a.m. – No. 5 Seed vs. No. 12 Seed (Convention Center Court)
Game 3 – 12:00 p.m. – No. 6 Seed vs. No. 11 Seed (Summit Arena)
Game 4 – 12:15 p.m. – No. 8 Seed vs. No. 9 Seed (Convention Center Court)
Game 5 – 2:30 p.m. – No. 7 Seed vs. No. 10 Seed (Convention Center Court)

Sunday, March 7
Game 6 – 12:00 p.m. – No. 1 Seed vs. Winner Game 4 (Summit Arena)
Game 7 – 12:15 p.m. – Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 (Convention Center Court)
Game 8 – 2:15 p.m. – No. 2 Seed vs. Winner Game 5 (Summit Arena)
Game 9 – 2:30 p.m. – No. 3 Seed vs. Winner Game 3 (Convention Center Court)

Monday, March 8
Game 10 – 12:00 p.m. – Winner Game 6 vs. Winner Game 7 (Summit Arena) – ESPN+
Game 11 – 2:15 p.m. – Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 9 (Summit Arena) – ESPN+

Tuesday, March 9
Championship Game – 1 p.m. (Summit Arena) – ESPNU

All times central and subject to change

Is that Eastern time...or Central(since it's in Arkansas) time. A 6pm conference title game would be early for ESPN2.

As best as I can tell Summitt Arena and the Convention Center are in basically the same complex. So expect a lot of foot traffic of fanbases walking between the two.

The thing that drives me nuts about this is that ALL the womens games are in one session, and ALL the mens games are in another.

Rather than play women on one court and men on another (so that there's ALWAYS one of each in each session), they've set things up so that it's impossible to see all the games for either sex.

Not only is it annoying, but I also think it's a bad financial move. If the NT women are out, there's no way I'm going to buy tickets to the womens sessions. But if they ran men and women simultaneously so that there's always a mens game... I'd buy a full tournament pass like I've done in years past (before I realized it was cheaper to skip the womens sessions). Given the big difference in attendance I've noticed during the respective sessions, I'm not the only fan who isn't really interested in womens basketball for its own sake.

I really, really wish that they weren't handling Round 1 and the Quarterfinals this way. Anyone else feel the same way?

What if they had completely mixed the men's and women's games together? And why is the 13th seed included? That adds a completely unnecessary level of difficulty to the tournament's schedule considering that Denver will be gone in a few years.

SATURDAY, MARCH 6, SUMMIT ARENA
12:30 PM - 8th Seed vs. 9th Seed - Men
03:00 PM - 5th Seed vs. 12th Seed - Women
05:30 PM - 6th Seed vs. 11th Seed - Men
08:00 PM - 7th Seed vs. 10th Seed - Women

SATURDAY, MARCH 6, CONVENTION CENTER
12:45 PM - 8th Seed vs. 9th Seed - Women
03:15 PM - 5th Seed vs. 12th Seed - Men
05:45 PM - 6th Seed vs. 11th Seed - Women
08:15 PM - 7th Seed vs. 10th Seed - Men

SUNDAY, MARCH 7, SUMMIT ARENA
12:30 PM - 8/9 Winner vs. 1st Seed - Men
03:00 PM - 5/12 Winner vs. 4th Seed - Women
05:30 PM - 6/11 Winner vs. 3rd Seed - Men
08:00 PM - 7/10 Winner vs. 2nd Seed - Women

SUNDAY, MARCH 7, CONVENTION CENTER
12:45 PM - 8/9 Winner vs. 1st Seed - Women
03:15 PM - 5/12 Winner vs. 4th Seed - Men
05:45 PM - 6/11 Winner vs. 3rd Seed - Women
08:15 PM - 7/10 Winner vs. 2nd Seed - Men

MONDAY, MARCH 8, SUMMIT ARENA
12:00 PM - 8/9/1 Winner vs. 5/12/4 Winner - Women
02:30 PM - 6/11/3 Winner vs. 7/10/2 Winner - Women
06:30 PM - 8/9/1 Winner vs. 5/12/4 Winner - Men
09:00 PM - 6/11/3 Winner vs. 7/10/2 Winner - Men

TUESDAY, MARCH 9, SUMMIT ARENA
01:00 PM - Championship Game - Women
06:00 PM - Championship Game - Men

I think something like this would have been a whole lot simpler for the Sun Belt office to institute. It could allow fans in each venue to watch both brands of basketball or have time to travel to the other building, if they prefer, on the first two days.

I think they did it to fill up the hotels and help Hot Springs.

Ideally, it would be best just to send 8 teams, without having the first round games at home sites.

Those home sites were sparsely attended across the board, and hard to plan for -- from a personnel standpoint, etc, and hard to sell tickets.

I have heard there will be no juggling of games. If your men and women play at the same time... tough tittie.

Thing is, our women outdraw the men's team.

They did it because the presidents, AD's and coaches know more than we do and wanted everyone to have fun.

Personally, I'd have a top six tournament and give the regular season more meaning but I wasn't consulted.

I am sure Hot Springs isn't broken-hearted over the news, but they signed on expecting 16 teams and now they get 26. Can't imagine that being disappointing.

The "travel" issue is a non-issue. Walk into the foyer of Summit, walk through the glass door into the Convention Center hallway, walk a few feet and hang a left and you are at the other court.

Tastygreek, you buy a full tournament ticket you see all the games. If you buy a session ticket you can watch in Summit for a while and go to the convention center on the same ticket. Summit was built as an addition to the Convention Center.

(09-01-2009 07:23 AM)arkstfan Wrote:  Tastygreek, you buy a full tournament ticket you see all the games. If you buy a session ticket you can watch in Summit for a while and go to the convention center on the same ticket. Summit was built as an addition to the Convention Center.

I know how the tournament pass works... My point is that I bought one in Mobile, but didn't in Hot Springs. The reason was that I didn't bother going to some of the womens sessions, and when I did the math I realized it had actually cost me more to get my mens tickets that way. If we didn't have the dueling mens/womens simultaneous play (by which I mean women on both courts in the morning, men on both courts in the evening) I'd buy twice as many tickets as I'm planning on doing given the announced format.

Based on what I've seen the past few years, it seems like they sell a lot more tickets (at least 50% more) for a mens session than a womens session. Since we'll be using two courts anyway... It seems like a better financial decision to have men playing at all times, and women playing at all times. I'll pay to see the guys play, but I'm just not interested in paying to see ladies basketball. I don't think I'm unusual in that respect.

Put another way... They've structured things so that on Saturday and Sunday, I can only get what I want to see half the time, at half the potential revenue to them. Spread the mens games around, and customers like me will buy two extra tickets (and two extra for my girlfriend, and two extra for my brother, and two extra for everyone else that makes the trip with us)... AND we'll be happier about the available product because we don't have to miss any of the games we want to see.

I can't watch every mens game like I used to be able to do, because now we've got a dueling mens game format up to the semifinals. With games played simultaneously, I'd have to be in both places at once to see all the mens games.

(08-29-2009 04:25 PM)thetastygreek Wrote:  The thing that drives me nuts about this is that ALL the womens games are in one session, and ALL the mens games are in another.

Rather than play women on one court and men on another (so that there's ALWAYS one of each in each session), they've set things up so that it's impossible to see all the games for either sex.

Not only is it annoying, but I also think it's a bad financial move. If the NT women are out, there's no way I'm going to buy tickets to the womens sessions. But if they ran men and women simultaneously so that there's always a mens game... I'd buy a full tournament pass like I've done in years past (before I realized it was cheaper to skip the womens sessions). Given the big difference in attendance I've noticed during the respective sessions, I'm not the only fan who isn't really interested in womens basketball for its own sake.

I really, really wish that they weren't handling Round 1 and the Quarterfinals this way. Anyone else feel the same way?

I understand why they did it though. Running the games at the same time means its very likely the Mens and Womens teams for the same school may be playing at the same time. Which is tough on both fans and the school itself. By setting it up like this there is only one real chance for that to happen

(09-04-2009 12:01 AM)chiefsfan Wrote:  I understand why they did it though. Running the games at the same time means its very likely the Mens and Womens teams for the same school may be playing at the same time. Which is tough on both fans and the school itself. By setting it up like this there is only one real chance for that to happen

Less than 1 in 4 or 5, in many cases it may wind up being zero.

Again... Get the ADs to agree to a one-slot shift in advance. Maybe a memorandum of understanding? I know the boss loves those!

If there is a conflict, which is again at best a 1 in 4 or 5 proposition... Just switch one of the games up or down. Easy fix, and every school has an incentive to agree to it in advance of the tournament.

I think a long term goal for the Sun Belt would be to have their tournament in a major city every year like the MVC and MAC does. New Orleans would seem logical in the future.

(09-04-2009 02:42 PM)MissouriStateBears Wrote:  I think a long term goal for the Sun Belt would be to have their tournament in a major city every year like the MVC and MAC does. New Orleans would seem logical in the future.

I agree. Or maybe even a rotation of cities. Hot Springs is just too far away, at least from Miami. A more centralized location like New Orleans would be a fair compromise, if the conference wants to have one location every year. If not, a rotation wouldn't be bad. One year in Hot Springs, one in New Orleans, then Miami, and so on and so forth.

(09-04-2009 03:16 PM)Joel Wrote:  

(09-04-2009 02:42 PM)MissouriStateBears Wrote:  I think a long term goal for the Sun Belt would be to have their tournament in a major city every year like the MVC and MAC does. New Orleans would seem logical in the future.

I agree. Or maybe even a rotation of cities. Hot Springs is just too far away, at least from Miami. A more centralized location like New Orleans would be a fair compromise, if the conference wants to have one location every year. If not, a rotation wouldn't be bad. One year in Hot Springs, one in New Orleans, then Miami, and so on and so forth.

We aren't at a point where that makes financial sense for the potential host cities. Most want a multi-year committment.

When this contract came up, only Hot Springs and Huntsville, AL made serious bids and it worked out for the better because Hot Springs is capable of adding the extra venue easily.

I'm not really happy about the neutral site expansion because unless the format is changed after the Hot Springs contract expires it seriously limits the cities that can bid because of the need for dual venues.

Even among those capable of providing two venues, few can offer two under the same roof.

Some good points ArkStfan...

...out of curiosity was Orlando ever considered or brought up?

My understanding was every city with a facility with 5,000 or more seats (not counting university run facilities) in a Sun Belt conference state was contacted to see if they would be interested. I heard that Pensacola was the only city in Florida that expressed any interest.

Just want to add, that while I was pro-Hot Springs for some time because I like the venue, the communities proven organization ability, and availablity of some added attractions, I don't want them winning the bid by default in the future.

It's not in the league's best interest to be in a city that can win the bid merely because it is the only interested party that can accomodate the needs of the event. That's not healthy.

I'd be tickled if Hot Springs offers a better bid than other competing cities when this contract expires, I don't want them to get it because no one else can offer two courts under one roof.

If we are going to have an all-comers tournament, put the bottom five at a disadvantage in the first round or eliminate those who finish below the 6 or 8 level.

(09-04-2009 04:31 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  My understanding was every city with a facility with 5,000 or more seats (not counting university run facilities) in a Sun Belt conference state was contacted to see if they would be interested. I heard that Pensacola was the only city in Florida that expressed any interest.

Wide World of Disney would be a fun site, maybe not 100% ideal but most Sunbelt schools could fly Southwest cheaply there. And who doesn't like Disney.

I am gradually coming to terms with the concept that we don't "shop" for arena but merely request bids.

I had originally assumed that picking an arena was much like buying a new truck. You know generally what you want and you go out and find the best combination of features for the price. I guess that's not how it works.

So many people have raved about Hot Springs I am going to have to make the effort to get down there this spring.

(09-04-2009 04:39 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  Just want to add, that while I was pro-Hot Springs for some time because I like the venue, the communities proven organization ability, and availablity of some added attractions, I don't want them winning the bid by default in the future.

It's not in the league's best interest to be in a city that can win the bid merely because it is the only interested party that can accomodate the needs of the event. That's not healthy.

I'd be tickled if Hot Springs offers a better bid than other competing cities when this contract expires, I don't want them to get it because no one else can offer two courts under one roof.

If we are going to have an all-comers tournament, put the bottom five at a disadvantage in the first round or eliminate those who finish below the 6 or 8 level.

Good points. Flexibility is good to have. Don't pigeon hole yourself. And sports is competitive. There are winners and losers. The conference is not obligated to give teams even footing in the tournament. And an argument could be made that the conference is hurt by giving the bottom teams too many good chances.

Unless we have one or two at large locks we don't need a sub .500 team winning the tournament.

(09-04-2009 06:53 PM)Hilltopper2K Wrote:  I am gradually coming to terms with the concept that we don't "shop" for arena but merely request bids.

I had originally assumed that picking an arena was much like buying a new truck. You know generally what you want and you go out and find the best combination of features for the price. I guess that's not how it works.

If you want to PAY all the costs of being someplace you do that. If you want someone else to foot all or some of the tab, you take bids.

I think we are too good of league to just rollover and pay 100% of the cost of being someplace.

Success at Hot Springs will go a long way to getting more cities willing to fight for our product.

I would just like to see the SBC NOT change SOMETHING about the tournament. Let's be consistent with our tournament.