How to improve the SWAC Tournament

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You want to improve the situation?

1) The Tournament will be in New Orleans -

close to all SWAC cities and if the SU women's program remains strong they will not have to worry about playing in front of 437 fans ever again. Plus it will give folks who live near the city to come out and watch the event even if their team was not there. I would come to New Orleans regardless of who is playing. French Quarter, casinos, family, hell, that's a trip in itself. Birmingham doesn't have the appeal.

2) eliminate home court advantage in the first round -

Your losing 4 teams and 4 fan bases right there. My team lost in the first round 2 years straight at someone elses court so why even waste time traveling to Birmingham to watch 4 teams I might not care for? (if it remain there) (see central location #1)

3) have a long term TV deal in place (just for tournament games at least) -
who dropped the ball this year? MBC is not NBC. That joke of a network does not even have a market in Houston. I saw all the small conferences on ESPN or ESPN 2, no SWAC.

add more if you want
 
I like the home first round games. If you came in 1-4, you earned the right to host a game, and if your school cannot draw a crowd at home, it's your own fault.<br><br>I whole heartly agree, Move the damn thing to a more central location. Birmingham is only convienent for 2 schools. A more attractive spot that can be promoted better would be a big plus. N.O would be close (4 hour drive) for SU, Alcorn, Grambling, TSU,PV,Jackson State. And New Orleans is a much better place to go.<br><br>
Play the semi-finals on Sat and the final on Sunday. That way someone could leave on a friday evening (and not miss work or class) and catch the tourny. Now, you have to miss work on Friday to get there. It may be easier to get tv. A sunday afternoon game ending right before the selection show. We probably ain't getting to at-larges anyway.
 



I will be so glad when the powers-that-be open their eyes and realize that Birmingham is not the place for the tourney. This has been a topic of conversation every since the tourney was first held there. Outside of the BAMA people, it is difficult to find anyone on this board who would not prefer some other city to Birmingham. And you're right, it is too far removed from the geographic center of the conference. Birmingham is just another city with little appeal outside of Alabama. I too would prefer to see the games played in N.O., Jackson, Biloxi, BR, Shreveport, at least on a rotating basis.
 
If it's played in New Orleans, which is a good idea (but will probably never happen because of the fallout between the SWAC and the city when the office was there), it should be played at the New Orleans Arena. They could curtain the upper bowl and the arena would still have from 8,500 to 10,000 seats available. Right now, they would only compete with the New Orleans Brass hockey team for the dates, but the Charlotte Hornets may also have a say in this. And for once, I agree with PF. The OTHER attractions of the city would bring fans to the tourney even if baskteball wasn't the top draw to them.

Biloxi: Well, the arena was great, next to the beach and everything. It was just big enough for the tourney. However, SWAC PR man noted the hotel problems the teams had so that might be a problem. Other than the casinos and beaches though, there was little to do.

My darkhorse: MOBILE: After this year, they will be clammering for events in the Civic Center. They are losing their ECHL Team (Mysticks) this year and the only tenants are the NBDL and the Arena Football 2 league. The Civic Center seats about 8,500 and keeps the Bama's in the mix, but allows Louisiana and Texas to be able to make it there in a max of six-seven hours. The only problems maybe hotels and things to do, but they work it for Alabama State's Gulf Coast Classic.

Other places with minimal opportunities:

Baton Rouge

Houston

Lafayette (the Cajundome would be a great venue for the tourney)

Bossier City (CenturyTel Arena is beautiful and Shreveport/Bossier City just about offer the same thing as a Biloxi or Mobile would except for the Beaches.)
And it would truly be the center of the SWAC as Grambling and UAPB could make it there easy and the Texas schools could be there in six to seven hours. Alabama schools could be there in less time than that.
 
Who the hell would pay for rent for a 5,000 seat arena where only the in-state school fans are going to come and if they lose, the conference is really in trouble.

Ever hear of "You have to spend money to make money"?

And I know you are going to say Alcorn's fans came. And? They came everywhere this year, just about. The conference has to attract that fan that wouldn't normally do that.
 
Originally posted by SU Jag 79
Who the hell would pay for rent for a 5,000 seat arena where only the in-state school fans are going to come and if they lose, the conference is really in trouble.

Ever hear of "You have to spend money to make money"?

And I know you are going to say Alcorn's fans came. And? They came everywhere this year, just about. The conference has to attract that fan that wouldn't normally do that.
Click to expand...

You are from SU... your fans dont even go to your regular season games. Once again... WHERE WERE ALL THE FANS when the game was on SU's campus about 3 years ago. If I remember correctly SU was in the title game and YOUR OWN GYM was still empty. I would rather see a packed 5000 seat gym than an empty 10,000 seat gym. What happenned to the JAGUAR NATION... is that just a football thing? You averaged about 900 fans during basketball season. Where are the REAL SU FANS.
 
Again, you keep harping on the fact that I am from SU and that our attendance wasn't good this year. Here's a clue kid: EVERYBODY's attendance went DOWN this year. It has happened like that for the past few years, even including the famous SWAC Championship here in Baton Rouge that you keep talking about.

This is my main point, okay. You can NO longer just put two teams in a gym and expect a sell out. Especially in this conference, it's NOT going to happen. The people these schools are trying to attract are different. In the 80's, when I was coming up, basketball was the isht. It was cool to be at the game. I remember days of when SU-Alcorn would get 5,000+ in the Activity Center. You only needed the two teams then. Obviously, you and the SWAC still think this can work while the rest of the conference, including Southern University, is telling you that unless something changes with respect to location AND the things happening around the tournament, IT WILL BE LIKE THIS WHEREVER YOU TAKE IT!
 
We can always talk about the past, but that isnt going to do anything. In the PAST... AAMU held the d2 attendence title. We averaged aver 5,500 a game. Every since we got in the SWAC attendence went down because SWAC basketball is kind of boring(slow pace and not enough running) You talk about SU and Alcorn getting 5000 plus back in the day... Just look at what Bama St and AAMU did in BOTH games this year. 7500 in Huntsville and 8000 in Montgomery... If either arena was large enough BOTH games would have had over 10,000. The game in Huntsville was sold out a 4 o clock... Yes a whole hour and a half before the GIRLS game started. People keep saying that Alcorn, AAMU, and ASU are the only schools close to Bham.. BULL****. JSU is on the same damn interstate about 3 hrs away and SU isnt that far behind, not more than 5 hrs away. No matter where you put the tournament, it is going to be far away from somebody. The only person I saw with a JSU paro on was ROBBER. Yall need to stop complaining and just go. AAMU had more people at the championship game than Alcorn did... AAMU fans went to support the SWAC, the school had already been put out.
 
I hate to say, but the tournament should stay in Birmingham. I've been to the last 8 out of 9 SWAC Tournaments. I didn't go last year because I was mad they move the tournament to Birmingham. I just got back from the tournament and I had a great time. I know the arena is smaller than normal, but what I liked about Birmingham is some of the A&M fans showed up to the finals after they loss in the semifinals. Normally, when the team you represent loses those people go home with their team the next day. It seem to me the people of Birmingham supported the tournament too (not just State and A&M fans). The semifinals sold out and the finals the next day was almost a sell out (5,400).
 
Originally posted by The Panther Fan
You want to improve the situation?

1) The Tournament will be in New Orleans -

close to all SWAC cities and if the SU women's program remains strong they will not have to worry about playing in front of 437 fans ever again. Plus it will give folks who live near the city to come out and watch the event even if their team was not there. I would come to New Orleans regardless of who is playing. French Quarter, casinos, family, hell, that's a trip in itself. Birmingham doesn't have the appeal.

2) eliminate home court advantage in the first round -

Your losing 4 teams and 4 fan bases right there. My team lost in the first round 2 years straight at someone elses court so why even waste time traveling to Birmingham to watch 4 teams I might not care for? (if it remain there) (see central location #1)

3) have a long term TV deal in place (just for tournament games at least) -
who dropped the ball this year? MBC is not NBC. That joke of a network does not even have a market in Houston. I saw all the small conferences on ESPN or ESPN 2, no SWAC.

add more if you want
Click to expand...

New Orleans is a good idea. It has lots of entertainment and it is a decent drive for most schools. Another thing that's attractive about it is that the locals know about the SWAC (I think that was a big downfall for Dallas). I agree that one big factor would be getting a good package in place since the SWAC relocated its offices.
 
New Orleans is only a good city because of it's location. If SU is not in the tournament then SU fans and the people of Louisiana people are not gonna come out, this is the biggest reason why New Orleans is a bad spot.
 
We liked what we saw.

Since this was only our second SWAC Tournament we can only compare it with our last visit when the tourney was held in Montgomery at the Acadome.

We liked what we saw.. enthusiastic fans, nearly a full house for the men's championship game and a two great championships games.

Ms. Winfield was outstanding in the women's championship featuring the contrast between the size of ASU vs. the quickness of SU.
Alcorn and Alabama State put on a great show in the men's championship.

The only thing we missed were vendors selling either SWAC, greek or school items. (Can't have too much stuff) Seems like they could have set up in the hallway behind the stands. We saw some vendors on the street before and after the game, but it would have been nice to have had them in the arena.

The Tournament can only get better and with crowds like the one Saturday evening, the conference will have to look for bigger digs in a few years.

=OW=
 
Lewis is right, the days of the tournament do not work with people's work schedules. The semis should be on Saturday and the finals on Sunday. I would not have to miss a day of work.

I'm not sold on Birmingham because we had 2 Alabama schools who had at least a chance to make it to the title game this year. That there was enough to keep the locals there an extra day.

Let the unthinkable happen and let PV slip in again along with UAPB, Valley and TSU and you got major trouble in Birmingham. It might not happen now but watch out.

Look at the SWAC Title game, it hit 47K in year one due to SU and JSU. The game has never approached that magnitude again.

Rotate the tournament or put it in a central location with name appeal. I guarantee I would have went to the tournament if it was in New Orelans.
 
Re: We liked what we saw.

Originally posted by Onnidan Webmaster
Since this was only our second SWAC Tournament we can only compare it with our last visit when the tourney was held in Montgomery at the Acadome.

We liked what we saw.. enthusiastic fans, nearly a full house for the men's championship game and a two great championships games.

Ms. Winfield was outstanding in the women's championship featuring the contrast between the size of ASU vs. the quickness of SU.
Alcorn and Alabama State put on a great show in the men's championship.

The only thing we missed were vendors selling either SWAC, greek or school items. (Can't have too much stuff) Seems like they could have set up in the hallway behind the stands. We saw some vendors on the street before and after the game, but it would have been nice to have had them in the arena.

The Tournament can only get better and with crowds like the one Saturday evening, the conference will have to look for bigger digs in a few years.

=OW=
Click to expand...

Friday night there were vendors everywhere in the hallways around the arena. The atmosphere Friday was GREAT. Maroon and White Adidas windsuits all over Fair Park. ASU fans had a corner of Fair Park, but AAMU had the rest of Fair Park locked down. Both crowds and bands made the atmosphere very good. I wish both bands could go back and forth during the regular season.
 



Originally posted by The Panther Fan
Lewis is right, the days of the tournament do not work with people's work schedules. The semis should be on Saturday and the finals on Sunday. I would not have to miss a day of work.

I'm not sold on Birmingham because we had 2 Alabama schools who had at least a chance to make it to the title game this year. That there was enough to keep the locals there an extra day.

Let the unthinkable happen and let PV slip in again along with UAPB, Valley and TSU and you got major trouble in Birmingham. It might not happen now but watch out.

Look at the SWAC Title game, it hit 47K in year one due to SU and JSU. The game has never approached that magnitude again.

Rotate the tournament or put it in a central location with name appeal. I guarantee I would have went to the tournament if it was in New Orelans.
Click to expand...
What you fail to realize is that you are ONE person... The tournament isnt going to revolve around your work schedule. Trust me you were not missed at the tournament.

Trust me... with the SWAC Championship game... IF they kept having all the bands come... attendence would go back up. The reason attendence has been down lately is because Grambling will bring 5000 fans. AAMU and ASU fans are going to be there regardless of who is there. So if for instance JSU makes it out the east.... the crowd is going to be deeper. I have been to ALL SWAC Championship games.... the Bama St and GSU game was the most exciting to me. You would have to be there to understand. The weather was PERFECT and it was a very exciting game from beginning to end.
 
Originally posted by Texas Southern Fan
I think there were more State fans there.
Click to expand...

were you one of the Texas SO fans sitting behind AAMU's bench? I saw 3 TSU fans, so I figure you were one of them.

It seemed to me like there were more AAMU fans than ASU fans. AAMU fans took up the whole arena... ASU fans were mainly in the one corner close to AAMU's bench. Then when the announcer started the game with "where are my bama st fans" and "where are my AAMU fans" AAMU was wayyyy louder. But I may be bias.
 
What if the Alabama schools were not there? I seriously doubt the turnout would be decent. You all are bragging about a fluke conference tournament. Take AAMU or ASU away and put PV and SU in the mix and it would suffer due to the Western fan base.
You see only a handful of TSU fans showed up, what does that tell you about their contingent?

I have been here since day one trying to sell Houston to the SWAC. I would at least send the spring sports championships there so athletes can see a major city once in their lives.

But once again, Birmingham is the choice because of free rent. :rolleyes:

and about the championship football game, if the bands was so much of a difference, why hasn't the experiement been used again?

I think it was the 2 teams playing in 99 that was the main draw. You had a loaded Jackson State team and NFL prospect Sylvester Morris on 1 side of the ball and an outstanding SU team on the other. PLus it was aheated rematch. The bands were the icing on the cake.
 
Isn't it funny how the people arguing about moving it from Bham were not even there. The people who were there are saying that the tournament worked in Bham!

Keep this tournament in Bham. The crowds were there. The excitment was there.

btw, Webmaster
There were some vendors on the inside of the Arena
 
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