ORU82 Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 Sorry, but I am in the camp of "grab the money". The Big Ten is playing their tourney at the Verizon Center in Washington DC. Nice for the University of Maryland who can literally take cabs from the campus to the Verizon and be there in about 10 minutes, but bad for someone from the University of Nebraska or the University of Iowa who basically faces a 2 day drive. The MAC goes to Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland and plays in the Home of the Cavs and LaBron James. Not bad for the University of Akron who can get to Qicken Loans Arena from their campus in Akron in about 30 minutes, but bad for the Huskies of Northern Illinois who face an 8 - 10 hour drive from DeKalb. So why do these conferences and others like "Arch Madness" in the Mo Valley with everyone going to St. Louis happen? It is because of the money, show casing the league/conference, and getting as many people into a large arena so when the games are broadcast on TV, it looks good. These other conferences share the revenue among the teams, and believe me, serious "jack" is made off these tourneys. That is why I have no problem with the Summit going to Sioux Falls. Attendance has been great and that comes across well on TV. However, I am not sure what the Summit does with its conference revenue or how much is given back to the member institutions, and I am too tired to look it up. One other thing, I agree with the 'lets fix our program first, then worry about the other later" philosophy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 The tournament is well attended and no other venue can approach the bid that Sioux Falls makes. I don't think the tournament will ever move given the money it makes for the league. Does it give the Dakota schools an edge? Undoubtedly. But we are just going to have to deal with it. Recruit/develop better players and win. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted March 12, 2017 Author Share Posted March 12, 2017 On 3/9/2017 at 0:42 PM, oruvoice said: Like I said...should conference tourneys be about a money grab or a reward for the #1 seed? Arguments on both sides. Neither is right or wrong. When the tourney came to Tulsa, we set all-time attendance/revenue records (at the time). That "money grab" helps keep conference schools from leaving, while likely attracting the new ones such as UND. There are always arguments on both sides of an issue. That doesn't make neither right or wrong. As in this case, where you are so wrong and I am so right. P.S. Attendance at the UMAC sucked in the final year of the four-year deal - that's a big reason why the Sioux Falls Sports Authority was able to win the bid for the next contract. Their proposal blew ORU's out of the water financially. And then they went and EXCEEDED it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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