Does the BSC Tournament Belong in Reno?

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Re: Does the BSC Tournament Belong in Reno?

Post by Joe Bobcat » Thu Mar 23, 2017 11:33 am

I couldn't agree more Broncocat. I posted the same thoughts a couple weeks ago. I'm not in the know about the bidding process and if there is guaranteed money up front for either high school or BSC tournaments but I would bet that the numbers attending any Montana high school state tourney would dwarf the numbers attending a BSC tourney in Billings so if they are competing for the same weekend it is no brainer game over welcome high school. The only business in town that isn't a bigger winner with HS than BSC would maybe be the airport/airlines.
I still haven't looked for the attendance numbers for the state tourney that was in Billings this year.


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Re: Does the BSC Tournament Belong in Reno?

Post by SLC_Cat » Fri Mar 24, 2017 3:44 pm

It seems the majority of viewpoints on this thread evaluate the success of the tournament based on attendance. I agree that attendance is a major point, but what other aspects would you use to evaluate a championship host city?

- Attendance
- Cost of travel for teams
- Cost of travel for fans
- Number of full service hotels
- Local media interest
- Arena size (seats)
- Arena size (back of house)
- Location

From my take, Billings has a couple things going for it... the arena is a good size for both fans and back of house logistics. The Metra may not be the best facility ever, but I does have the space to accommodate teams and fans.

The market would be interested, regardless of who is still playing in the later rounds. If a Montana school is still alive the tickets sales would jump. Local media would eat it up and you would have multiple stations and newspapers in town. The media coverage might change if the Montana schools didn’t last long.

Now for the down sides... the hotel situation isn't bad but it isn't ideal either. The majority of full service hotels in the area are spread out. It remains to be seen what properties would be used, but there isn’t a huge selection.

To give context to the amount of rooms that will be needed, 24 teams will need no less than 18 rooms for at least three nights. If a school was so incline to send their band and cheer, now you're looking at another 10 to 15 rooms per school. Does Billings have enough rooms to carry this in their full service properties? (No Motel 6 type stuff)

The cost of a hotel in Billings for fans could be a hang-up as well, but at least fans could stay in some of the non-full service properties.

Flying into Billings is probably on par with flying into Reno, though you will not need to have as many schools fly as there are a handful of teams that can bus.

The last hurdle is the perception that the league is already Montana-centric. So, why would a coach or AD vote to move a tournament into the state? You’re asking 18 coaches and 9 ADs to give the tournament to the state of Montana. I'm not sure boosters or presidents would forgive you for this if you never win another BSC title. i.e. Weber State…

I'll hang up and listen... :)


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Re: Does the BSC Tournament Belong in Reno?

Post by BelgradeBobcat » Mon Apr 10, 2017 7:27 pm

A review of the Big Sky Tournament from a neutral party: http://www.stadiumjourney.com/stadiums/ ... nter-s3086



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Re: Does the BSC Tournament Belong in Reno?

Post by mslacat » Fri Apr 14, 2017 10:29 am

This has all been said before, but here is my 2 cents

I prefer the Tourney to take place in the regular season championship winner. I believe it provides a reward for winning the championship. If taken advantage by the winning team it provides the Big Sky with its top team making it into the NCAA. It rewards the fans of the winning team. In most venues it is well attended. When MSU wins I love the feeling of returning to Bozeman to watch my team play among all my friends. I think the atmosphere is much more enjoyable in the championship city (with a couple exclusions)

What I like about Reno is that all teams get to participate.



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Re: Does the BSC Tournament Belong in Reno?

Post by John K » Fri Apr 14, 2017 10:57 am

mslacat wrote:This has all been said before, but here is my 2 cents

I prefer the Tourney to take place in the regular season championship winner. I believe it provides a reward for winning the championship. If taken advantage by the winning team it provides the Big Sky with its top team making it into the NCAA. It rewards the fans of the winning team. In most venues it is well attended. When MSU wins I love the feeling of returning to Bozeman to watch my team play among all my friends. I think the atmosphere is much more enjoyable in the championship city (with a couple exclusions)

What I like about Reno is that all teams get to participate.
You could still have all the teams participate, even if you went back to the regular season champ hosting. They did it that way for a few years back in the 80's. I agree with you. I just don't believe having the tourney in Reno is ever going to be very successful in terms of attendance and fan interest. Reno isn't easy to get to, either driving or flying, for any of the schools except for Sac State, and really how many Sac fans are going to travel to Reno, even if they had a really good team with a good chance to win the tourney? And I doubt that a low major league like the BSC is ever going to stir up much interest among the locals. The other potential pre-determined site options are all going to give one or more teams an advantage, i.e. Billlngs, Ogden/SLC, or Spokane, and it seems like the league doesn't want to do that. I know that it makes travel more difficult logistically and more expensive, but I still think it's the best option. As great as it was that the MSU women won the league tourney this year, imagine how awesome it would have been to see them cutting down the nets in front of a big crowd at The Brick? Just our luck that the women won the regular season title two straight years, and it just happens to be the first two years of the new format, so that we didn't get to host. But even setting aside my personal bias, I still think it's the best option.



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Re: Does the BSC Tournament Belong in Reno?

Post by BelgradeBobcat » Fri Apr 14, 2017 1:27 pm

John K wrote:
mslacat wrote:This has all been said before, but here is my 2 cents

I prefer the Tourney to take place in the regular season championship winner. I believe it provides a reward for winning the championship. If taken advantage by the winning team it provides the Big Sky with its top team making it into the NCAA. It rewards the fans of the winning team. In most venues it is well attended. When MSU wins I love the feeling of returning to Bozeman to watch my team play among all my friends. I think the atmosphere is much more enjoyable in the championship city (with a couple exclusions)

What I like about Reno is that all teams get to participate.
You could still have all the teams participate, even if you went back to the regular season champ hosting. They did it that way for a few years back in the 80's. I agree with you. I just don't believe having the tourney in Reno is ever going to be very successful in terms of attendance and fan interest. Reno isn't easy to get to, either driving or flying, for any of the schools except for Sac State, and really how many Sac fans are going to travel to Reno, even if they had a really good team with a good chance to win the tourney? And I doubt that a low major league like the BSC is ever going to stir up much interest among the locals. The other potential pre-determined site options are all going to give one or more teams an advantage, i.e. Billlngs, Ogden/SLC, or Spokane, and it seems like the league doesn't want to do that. I know that it makes travel more difficult logistically and more expensive, but I still think it's the best option. As great as it was that the MSU women won the league tourney this year, imagine how awesome it would have been to see them cutting down the nets in front of a big crowd at The Brick? Just our luck that the women won the regular season title two straight years, and it just happens to be the first two years of the new format, so that we didn't get to host. But even setting aside my personal bias, I still think it's the best option.
.
The hot team hosts format is gone, dead, and buried. I don't think it's ever coming back. Good bad or otherwise, I think it's going to stay in Reno. That's the only place that everybody in the league will agree on because it is so neutral. Unless of course some other city makes an offer the Big Sky just can't refuse-which I don't see as likely.



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Re: Does the BSC Tournament Belong in Reno?

Post by Helcat72 » Sat Apr 15, 2017 3:26 pm

What's wrong with Spokane? Easier to get flights, lots of motels. Not sure about availability of arena. lots more teams within driving distance.


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Re: Does the BSC Tournament Belong in Reno?

Post by MSU01 » Sun Apr 16, 2017 11:39 am

Helcat72 wrote:What's wrong with Spokane? Easier to get flights, lots of motels. Not sure about availability of arena. lots more teams within driving distance.
Apparently the drawback to Spokane when the tournament was awarded to Reno was that their proposal had the men's tournament at the Spokane Arena but the women's tournament would have been mostly held at EWU in Cheney. The conference wanted both tournaments at the same location, which Reno is able to do. Logically Spokane makes a lot of sense just like Salt Lake City would in terms of ease of travel. You also have a pretty high population of basketball fans there given Gonzaga's success, although that's of course no guarantee that they would show up to watch Big Sky games.



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Re: Does the BSC Tournament Belong in Reno?

Post by RickRund » Tue Apr 18, 2017 5:23 pm

Spokane also has the Warehouse Family facility and the HUB in the Spokane Valley. Two nice venues but maybe they would not work out or be available.


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