I don't think the Orleans arena holds enough. Dallas is out because they are in the rotation for the Big XII tournament. Albuquerque is out, because they don't have a neutral arena. San Diego has the Sports Arena, but that is an arcaeic piece of junk. So now we're down to Denver and SLC, places that failed to draw fans before.

Anyone know how many the Orleans seats? I was there for that tournament and am guessing it seats 4,000 or so, although I wasn't really trying to estimate at the time so I could be way off.

Even for the game between UNLV and BYU the stands were probably only 60% full as there was a lot of space left up top and there are always open space throughout. It seems like you could make it work somehow. I agree even though it is only 15 minutes from the Thomas & Mack Center that it would make a difference. It wouldn't take the advantage away but at least its a start.

PHX is the best place to play the tourny. It makes sense because it kinda sits in the center of the conference. Im sure plenty of fans would go there. Denver didnt work, because its not an inviting city. There are way more things to do in PHX, plus its easy to get there, from anywhere!

Plus......the Big 12 plays thier conference tourny in St. Louis, and they dont have any teams from there.

UliUli79 wrote:

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.

I am with you on this one, UliUli.

I was at the regular season UNLV/BYU game at UNLV and it wasn't bad at all. Quite nice actually. To hear how bad it was Saturday night is shocking.

If the Vegas Arena only seats 4,000 and it is all about the money, they could have it at the ESA, with the Y and U fans, they could fill it enough to make money.

The reason it is in Vegas, is to make money and bring people to the games. Vegas Arena wouldn't seat enough people who come, so no one would come.

Okay change my 4,000 estimate to 9,000 based on the link below. I can't guarantee the accuracy of it but if that is the case 9,000 seats is plenty for the tournament. I am guessing UNLV seats about 15,000 which at 60% occupancy is still 9,000 people. No reason it shouldn't work unless my numbers are off which is always possible.
http://www.cheapovegas.com/vegas_casino_full.php?hotel_id=1069