AAC tournament
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Memphis is fairly central to the conference. I know lots of Tulsa fans will not be happy about it, but Cincinnati is even more central to the conference as a whole than Memphis.
I wouldn't mind if the tourney was a rotation of Cincinnati, Memphis, and other.
My argument is since it's practically impossible to predict who the top 4 teams in this conference will be from year to year I don't think you should place the tourney to try and draw crowds from fans. I think if you choose a destination that people want to visit, and that should have good weather in early March, you will get spouses and families to visit with the hard core fans and sell tickets. New Orleans, Orlando, Vegas are all examples. No offense to your current home town but I wouldn't travel to Houston, I would wait until it was in Tulsa again and visit family.
Why would I be offended? I care about Tulsa a helluva lot more than Houston.
This conference is never going to attempt neutral sites championships in any sport, it's a simple as that. We cannot depend solely (or even heavily) on fans traveling--that's the whole point.
This conference is never going to attempt neutral sites championships in any sport, it's a simple as that. We cannot depend solely (or even heavily) on fans traveling--that's the whole point.
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I think the point about Tulsa is that it would do as good as Hartford has the last couple of years. So why not Tulsa.
Look the AAC doesn't draw the crowds of the big state school conferences.
Las Vegas probably wouldn't work although the WAC tourneys were well attended but most of the teams are in the West.
Average flight fares to Tulsa might be $50 bucks more a ticket.
If you can host the NCAA Tournament you should be able to host a Conference Tournament.
SMU already starts is downward spiral next year after Brown and Moore graduate.
I would be OK with Dallas over Hartford for sure.
Go TU!!!
Like 2 threads below this is people worrying about what draw we will get to have a good turnout and pleased that we got Kansas, Baylor and SMU and their fans. Otherwise we are SOOL with only city of Tulsa turnout.
Not only is a conf tourney different in that we can't be banking on fans traveling (like the NCAAs) but we also don't have the weight of the Tulsa Sports Commission and Chamber of Commerce (however lame they may be) behind us like with the NCAAs. That's apples and oranges and I'd favor a Reynolds AAC tournament over BOK 1000% anyway.
It is always regional teams. For example Greenville, SC gets Duke and North Carolina. I can assure you if the Tourney were in OKC or Omaha that is where they would send Kansas.
GO TU!!!!
I didn't say it's not? Just that we HAVE to rely on fans traveling. Or else we've got an empty BOK.
Can't do that with the AAC tourney or the football championship either, for that matter.
Can't do that with the AAC tourney or the football championship either, for that matter.
The tourney needs to be somewhere that has a host team, and is within driving distance of several other schools. Tulsa, Dallas, or Memphis seem like the best options to me (especially if WSU is added)
The AAC will continue to award the tourney to the leagues' upper echelon teams who have the best home attendance imo. The league simply lacks fan bases who travel in mass at this time. Many schools struggle to get 4000 fans at their home games. Placing the tourney with league contender with a good home attendance record and hoping said team makes it to the finals is about the only way to ensure decent attendance at the current time. I don't see that changing anytime soon. If WSU is added then I could see a fairly strong argument for the BOK. Shocker fans travel.
I totally agree Junkie, you're right no AAC travels well. So the BOK would be similar to the Tourney in Hartford IMHO.
GO TU!!!
I think you're right that they WILL do it. I don't think they SHOULD do it. If we run into a situation where the host team ends up having a subpar season like UCONN did this year, there REALLY won't be fans to travel to these big schools with high attendance that only have one or two schools around them. If it was out West, you have a shot at
1. The host school providing an attendance base
2. One of Memphis, SMU, Tulsa, WSU (if added), or Houston being good and all within driving distance for their team's fans. Dallas would be excellent for this. Tulsa would be a good second spot.
Depending on fans flying to see their teams is just dumb. It's about 4 times as expensive for a family of 4 to fly to Orlando from anywhere in the conference as it is for a family of 4 (or a student group of 4) to drive from any of the western cities to the host site.
Easier travel destinations really benefit schools too, for team, band and spirit travel.
Frankly I think UConn has gotten the benefit of the doubt bc of bias. There isn't really any tangible benefit to it being there anymore over just about anybody besides ECU. I agree that they have nothing over Tulane or Tulsa hosting.
Frankly I think UConn has gotten the benefit of the doubt bc of bias. There isn't really any tangible benefit to it being there anymore over just about anybody besides ECU. I agree that they have nothing over Tulane or Tulsa hosting.
I like Philly for it once in a while. I really wish St. Louis was a possibility.
I remember we really traveled well in the elite eight year. 9 busses to SMU and great attendance in Nashville and Austin. But if you remember we poorly attended the conference tournament that year in Fresno where we lost to Fresno for the third time.
UConn averages over 10k per game in attendance. The conference obviously hopes their fan support translates into more fans at the tourney. Throw in the fact that they've been the most successful program currently in the AAC over the past 10 years and you get to host the tourney. I'm not arguing it's the right decision but there's is logic in the same if you're a conference where many of your schools struggle to get 5k to their games and your spread out across the eastern half of the country.
http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_basketball_RB/Reports/attend/2016.pdf
Last years.
This year's numbers haven't yet been posted.
Who the hell wants to go to Fresno? It's not like Fresno brought any fans th next year when it was in Tulsa and they were the #1 seed and flamed out.