(09-18-2012 10:47 AM)MT FAN Wrote:  I think Nashville is the best fit. It's the closest to the Belt's largest basketball fan bases.

i know i've heard that on the hilltopper board over and over.

it would be great but i'm not so sure nashville is clamoring for the 3,372 fans that arrive in a deluge at hot springs.

they can re-open a part of opry mills and get that impact.

I think the basketball tournament in Atlanta. For the conference offices I'd rather them in New Orleans.

If the tourney was in Nashville, I think it would have to be held at Belmont or Lipscomb.

I would be more than amped if the tourney was at either Nawlins, Atlanta, or Nashville. Convenient and plenty to do in those cities.

I would say that as long as our bowl is in Nawlins, the offices need to stay there too.

No reason to beat the Hot Springs horse but its time has come and gone.

Hot Springs is/was not that bad.

Most of the negative comments I've seen are from people who've never been.

There is plenty to do there.

I do think it's time to move it elsewhere, however.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?s...1808583067

You can link through to the bth story through the above link.

I would really hate to move the turnament from Hot Springs. It has been such a good host to the SBC. Tons of stuff to do, great places to eat, two basketball courts. It has become an event with lots of people traveling from middle, wku, north texas and the two arkansas schools. Having attended a lot of MVC tournaments in Saint Louis, I think we are as close to an event as Arch Maddness is.

I guess we need to look at options but I see Hot springs as hard to beat.

(09-18-2012 03:38 PM)insideualr Wrote:  https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?s...1808583067

You can link through to the bth story through the above link.

I would really hate to move the turnament from Hot Springs. It has been such a good host to the SBC. Tons of stuff to do, great places to eat, two basketball courts. It has become an event with lots of people traveling from middle, wku, north texas and the two arkansas schools. Having attended a lot of MVC tournaments in Saint Louis, I think we are as close to an event as Arch Maddness is.

I guess we need to look at options but I see Hot springs as hard to beat.

I have to say it's a nice setup to have two gyms to use so games can go on simultaneously for the women and men.

The tourny needs to rotate. We, as a conference, don't have the numbers that are going to travel and fill up buildings no matter where it is held. Hot Springs may be a great host, but it is out of the way for a lot of the league. Atlanta may be a great place, but not much chance of the Texas schools getting a big crowd. So why not move it around, Atlanta, New Orleans, Hot Springs that way everyone is within driving distance every few years.

That would be except FAU.

One thing is for sure. If we are going to do this play everyone twice thing, we need to change the format of the tournament to something similar to the OVC. I know it just looks like sour grapes on my end after our first round upset last season, but if we're expanding our regular season, let's at least give the teams that do well during that stretch some sort of advantage in the post season, especially since we have fewer OOC games to boost our RPI.

(09-18-2012 03:49 PM)Usajags Wrote:  The tourny needs to rotate. We, as a conference, don't have the numbers that are going to travel and fill up buildings no matter where it is held. Hot Springs may be a great host, but it is out of the way for a lot of the league. Atlanta may be a great place, but not much chance of the Texas schools getting a big crowd. So why not move it around, Atlanta, New Orleans, Hot Springs that way everyone is within driving distance every few years.

That would be except FAU.

FIU's AD did not even attend this past years tourney in Hot Springs.

I have seen some fans from FAU at tourney games in the past.

Denver always brought a decent amount, for the mileage.

Denver fans probably outnumbered ULM, FAU, and FIU put together.

(09-18-2012 03:53 PM)MTowho Wrote:  One thing is for sure. If we are going to do this play everyone twice thing, we need to change the format of the tournament to something similar to the OVC. I know it just looks like sour grapes on my end after our first round upset last season, but if we're expanding our regular season, let's at least give the teams that do well during that stretch some sort of advantage in the post season, especially since we have fewer OOC games to boost our RPI.

Agreed.

Unless Western finishes on top in the reg. season

Hot Springs time has come and gone. Time for another venue.

(09-18-2012 03:49 PM)Usajags Wrote:  The tourny needs to rotate. We, as a conference, don't have the numbers that are going to travel and fill up buildings no matter where it is held. Hot Springs may be a great host, but it is out of the way for a lot of the league. Atlanta may be a great place, but not much chance of the Texas schools getting a big crowd. So why not move it around, Atlanta, New Orleans, Hot Springs that way everyone is within driving distance every few years.

That would be except FAU.

The one issue is that most venue's don't want a one year contract, and the league can also get a reduced price going for a 2-3 year contract.

I really like the idea of a long term fixed site. The MVC has done a great job of building an event out of Arch Maddness and we are doing the same in Hot Springs. Moving just means we have to start over.

The crowds are good and we are moving to a friday, saturday, sunday format.

I think that most that have attended in Hot Springs can see that it is really happy to host us and a great event.

We've had this many responses and no one has brought up the heading for this thread.

Waters looking to move the tournament??? Does he have that much power as a retired commish???

Karl Benson is the Commissioner of the Sun Belt.

HELLO???????

Atlanta would be almost half the drive for WKU.

I think Atlanta, Nashville, or Memphis would be better. Hot Springs really isn't a big destination, and it's somewhat difficult to get there. Nashville would see high amounts of WKU, MT, GSU, ASU, and Troy fans I think with a good deal of other fans too...

(09-18-2012 07:17 PM)mtsufan561 Wrote:  I think Atlanta, Nashville, or Memphis would be better. Hot Springs really isn't a big destination, and it's somewhat difficult to get there. Nashville would see high amounts of WKU, MT, GSU, ASU, and Troy fans I think with a good deal of other fans too...

I am not against it but how many tournaments are already there? 2?

Where would we hold it in memphis?

Atl is outside the footprint of the sbc, imo and has the sec in town.

Birmingham could be a good choice. Would the city embrace us?

(09-19-2012 07:11 AM)MT FAN Wrote:  Birmingham could be a good choice. Would the city embrace us?

They don't even embrace uab, and they live there