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Post by nick on Mar 18, 2011 12:21:01 GMT -5
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Post by GuyF on Mar 18, 2011 12:31:05 GMT -5
Um, no. But it does give potential to Mohegan down the line. ;-)
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Post by ic59 on Mar 18, 2011 14:07:46 GMT -5
Are they moving it, just because the MAAC put Marist in it next season?
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Post by Joebird on Mar 18, 2011 14:41:35 GMT -5
The Maac tourney in Springfield will be a disaster. The only chance to draw any crowd is if Siena advances. The second year with Siena out early will have no more than 1,000 people at last two nights.
This commitment was a huge mistake. If there is any ability to back out of the contract I predict the Maac will not return for the third year. Common sense wasn't taken when they made this decision, the people of Springfield will have no interest in this tourney and the Maac needs that because it not nearby any Maac school.
They should have given Newark a try.
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Post by GuyF on Mar 18, 2011 16:00:36 GMT -5
Joebird, Springfield paid a guarantee to the MAAC, so the MAAC will stay there even if you and I are the only people in the arena. If it's a total disaster I can see some sort of parting of the ways, but it won't be after year 1.
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Post by ghostofwillard on Mar 19, 2011 6:26:08 GMT -5
Fwiw; the main banner on the MassMutual site already has a prominently displayed countdown for the 2012 Maac tournament. It appears they are treating this as the highlight event of the year, so maybe assuming this is going to be a failure is premature. I think it's going to bomb up there, but maybe they can peak the locale's interest and it doesn't fail.
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Post by chelseadal on Mar 19, 2011 8:29:58 GMT -5
Fwiw; the main banner on the MassMutual site already has a prominently displayed countdown for the 2012 Maac tournament. It appears they are treating this as the highlight event of the year, so maybe assuming this is going to be a failure is premature. I think it's going to bomb up there, but maybe they can peak the locale's interest and it doesn't fail. Yeah. It should attract at least 47 local fans. That should help. |
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Post by GuyF on Mar 19, 2011 8:57:54 GMT -5
I'm going to be in the minority and say it will pull numbers at least equal to that of Bridgeport this year--which is a great accomplishment when you consider there's no host school.
Also should be noted that MassMutual only seats 7K for hoops, AHY seats like 9 I think, so the smaller crowds may not look awful at MassMutual.
And yes, the promos were already underway for next year at THIS year's tournament. Did you all not know that next's year's tourney is in "MAAC-achusetts"? ;-)
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Post by ghostofwillard on Mar 19, 2011 10:14:52 GMT -5
I'm going to be in the minority and say it will pull numbers at least equal to that of Bridgeport this year--which is a great accomplishment when you consider there's no host school. Also should be noted that MassMutual only seats 7K for hoops, AHY seats like 9 I think, so the smaller crowds may not look awful at MassMutual. And yes, the promos were already underway for next year at THIS year's tournament. Did you all not know that next's year's tourney is in "MAAC-achusetts"? ;-) Your right about the seating capacity; combine that with the possibility of Fairfield and Iona having very good seasons next year the MassMutual may have two very good teams to market; especially if form holds throughout the tourney. The location becomes a problem if for example Canisius and Niagara have so -so years and end up advancing through the tournament; then you have two teams who probably won't travel well, and will be difficult to market to the locale's. IMO, the Maac should only have the top 8 in the tourny with higher seed hosting to the finals, it's not an arena conference. |
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Post by gaelman on Mar 19, 2011 11:50:39 GMT -5
I'm going to be in the minority and say it will pull numbers at least equal to that of Bridgeport this year--which is a great accomplishment when you consider there's no host school. Also should be noted that MassMutual only seats 7K for hoops, AHY seats like 9 I think, so the smaller crowds may not look awful at MassMutual. And yes, the promos were already underway for next year at THIS year's tournament. Did you all not know that next's year's tourney is in "MAAC-achusetts"? ;-) Does anyone know how to contact Guy? I think Rich Ensor might have hacked his user account. ;D |
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Post by chelseadal on Mar 19, 2011 11:54:52 GMT -5
I'm going to be in the minority and say it will pull numbers at least equal to that of Bridgeport this year--which is a great accomplishment when you consider there's no host school. Also should be noted that MassMutual only seats 7K for hoops, AHY seats like 9 I think, so the smaller crowds may not look awful at MassMutual. And yes, the promos were already underway for next year at THIS year's tournament. Did you all not know that next's year's tourney is in "MAAC-achusetts"? ;-) Your right about the seating capacity; combine that with the possibility of Fairfield and Iona having very good seasons next year the MassMutual may have two very good teams to market; especially if form holds throughout the tourney. The location becomes a problem if for example Canisius and Niagara have so -so years and end up advancing through the tournament; then you have two teams who probably won't travel well, and will be difficult to market to the locale's. IMO, the Maac should only have the top 8 in the tourny with higher seed hosting to the finals, it's not an arena conference. Do you really think anyone in Springfield, Mass gives a rat's eye ball about the MAAC? Come on. |
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Post by ghostofwillard on Mar 19, 2011 12:43:33 GMT -5
Fwiw; the main banner on the MassMutual site already has a prominently displayed countdown for the 2012 Maac tournament. It appears they are treating this as the highlight event of the year, so maybe assuming this is going to be a failure is premature. I think it's going to bomb up there, but maybe they can peak the locale's interest and it doesn't fail. The last sentence of the above post would indicate that I don't think the tournament will do well there! However, Springfield is home to the Basketball Hall of Fame; you can't just blindly believe a conference tournament won't draw interest. Time will tell. By the way if Siena plays Marist on Monday night the place wouldn't be big enough! |
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Post by chelseadal on Mar 19, 2011 13:10:04 GMT -5
Fwiw; the main banner on the MassMutual site already has a prominently displayed countdown for the 2012 Maac tournament. It appears they are treating this as the highlight event of the year, so maybe assuming this is going to be a failure is premature. I think it's going to bomb up there, but maybe they can peak the locale's interest and it doesn't fail. The last sentence of the above post would indicate that I don't think the tournament will do well there! However, Springfield is home to the Basketball Hall of Fame; you can't just blindly believe a conference tournament won't draw interest. Time will tell. By the way if Siena plays Marist on Monday night the place wouldn't be big enough! I am going to wait and see and in the meantime blindly believe that they won't draw flies. |
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Post by GuyF on Mar 19, 2011 13:32:43 GMT -5
Your right about the seating capacity; combine that with the possibility of Fairfield and Iona having very good seasons next year the MassMutual may have two very good teams to market; especially if form holds throughout the tourney. The location becomes a problem if for example Canisius and Niagara have so -so years and end up advancing through the tournament; then you have two teams who probably won't travel well, and will be difficult to market to the locale's. IMO, the Maac should only have the top 8 in the tourny with higher seed hosting to the finals, it's not an arena conference. Do you really think anyone in Springfield, Mass gives a rat's eye ball about the MAAC? Come on. No, but they give a rat's ass about basketball. They won't flood the building, but the community will come out more than Bridgeport did this past year. What an embarrassment the final was. |
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Post by chelseadal on Mar 19, 2011 13:35:24 GMT -5
Do you really think anyone in Springfield, Mass gives a rat's eye ball about the MAAC? Come on. No, but they give a rat's ass about basketball. They won't flood the building, but the community will come out more than Bridgeport did this past year. What an embarrassment the final was. I hope you are right. Maybe they should move the Basketball Hall of Fame to Bridgeport or put Springfield College in the MAAC (after they upgrade them to D1) |
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