BYUCougs1 wrote:

It does not have to be a campus sight at all. They could play in in cali at the honda center. Take the tourney to Arizona and play at the Suns arena. People will go to those places i would any place but vegas..

How about in the San Francisco area. Plenty of arenas to choose from. There is the Oracle center where the Warriors play, Cal's stadium, Stanford's stadium, the HP Pavillion in San Jose, etc.

It's an 8 hour drive from San Diego. It's a 12 hour drive from SLC. It's not much further than having to go to Las Vegas from Colorado or Wyoming. TCU has to travel far anyways.

harlinestillopen wrote:

Hengst wrote:

stuckinbig10country wrote:

Below are a list of reasons why the tournament has to stay in Las Vegas.

1. There are only 2 destination cities in the conference area at the end of Winter: Las Vegas and San Diego. The San Diego arena does not allow alcohol sales because it is on campus. The Thomas & Mack is an off-campus facility and thus allows alcohol sales. Let's remember that the conference tournaments are to make the leagues money, not to crown a champion.

2. The MWC tried it in Denver. No fans came.

3. The WAC tried it in Salt Lake City. No fans came. (Beginning to see a pattern?)

4. The WAC tried alternating sites for the tournament, not based on which team won the conference, it was just determined at the beginning of the year. Again, hard to get fans to go to Laramie, Provo, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, Albuquerque, etc. Also, those cities would have a problem holding the fans if they came (hotels, restaurants, etc).

5. UNLV winning the tournament is actually pretty new. They didn't win it regularly when it was there before in both the MWC and WAC (I guess part of the time they were on probation, but still).

6. The coaches wanted it back in Vegas after 3 years in Denver. They must like something about Vegas.

Sure, there are a ton of reasons that the tournament could be held somewhere else, but quite frankly Vegas is the best spot for what the conference needs the tournament for: to increase cash flow.

Las vegas just needs an NBA team so that they can have it on a neutral floor.

I'm not sure that it being on a neutral floor changes anything. It'd still be 75% UNLV fans

Of course it matters. When you are used to a gym you have an advantage. There should not be a playing advantage given to any of the teams. Having more fans than everyone else is bad enough. Getting to play on the floor that you have been practising on for 8 months (and in some cases four years), is a decided advantage. You "know" the rims, the floor etc. If it wasn't such an advantage then explain why BYU has a 47 game home win streak but have lost seven games this year? They are 72-25 over the past three years with only one of the 25 losses coming at home. Play on a neutral court in LV if you have to, but make it a neutral court. The fans will still help UNLV but at least they will be out of their locker room, off their floor, and out of that comfort zone.

Two words:

Orleans Arena

If it was good enough for the UNC game, it ought to be good enough for the MWC tourney.

I like the rotation idea. I say rotate between San Diego (San Diego Arena is off-campus and seats 14,500), Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Denver, Albuquerque, and Dallas. Those are all decent destination cities with plenty of attractions and profitability. Make the cities bid to get the tournament - if one won't bid high enough (e.g. incentives, profit-sharing, etc.), simply exclude that city. This will give the home team a huge incentive to get their city to support the idea.

Granted, some years will have less attendance (Albuquerque, Dallas, and Denver) but others will be much higher. Plus, by pitting the cities against each other in terms of incentives, you yield increased profitability.

Neutral sights in each city are preferred - San Diego Arena, Pepsi Center, Delta Center, American Airlines Arena, etc.

I can understand the business end of it and I agree with Imua 100% on the neutral court idea. My problem is with the fans. I'm sorry, but my wife should not feel threatened by opposing team's fans. If it was a regular away game you expect to walk into hostile territory. This is a tournament though. It shouldn't be that way.

Thank you, Thats what I have been screaming. If you have to have it in vegas, why in the hell cant we play it at orleans so at least it is not in their home building where they are playing all year long.
lawman wrote:

Two words:

Orleans Arena

If it was good enough for the UNC game, it ought to be good enough for the MWC tourney.