2015 AAC Tournament Location: Hartford, CT | Page 2 | The Boneyard

2015 AAC Tournament Location: Hartford, CT

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Hoophound said:
West Hartford Center, the Basketball Hall of Fame, the casinos and downtown Hartford attractions/dining/bars should all be featured on a program and in an email blast as well as on the AAC web site. The best way to get people to come to town is to spell everything out for them so they know how they will spend their time there.

I can have a blast in Greater Hartford for about a week before I get tired of it. A long weekend is a piece of cake, especially when there is a big event going on. I used to bring friends from Boston and New York to Hartford for games, concerts etc. and they'd always comment on how much fun it was and ask "why does Hartford have such a bad reputation?" The real answer was that in the morning the bustling party scene would be gone and downtown would be deserted. Hartford will have no problem providing a good venue over the weekend but the people need to be told how to get to West Hartford as well. In fact, a bus that stops at the Mark Twain house, Blue Back and WHC and loops back to the XL downtown every 30 minutes would be a great idea.
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Oh yeah I forgot about letting people know the HOF is <30 minutes up 91. Weather that time of year is extremely fickle we could be looking at highlighting ski options or hiking.
 
Memphis has a brand new NBA stadium and lots to do, surprised they pulled the plug so quickly, was looking forward to a trip to Beale St. Hartford has to be near the bottom as far as arenas are concerned.
 
Gary Parrish ‏@GaryParrishCBS
Per various reports, the American Tournament will be in Hartford in 2015 and in Orlando in 2016 and 2017. No more Memphis for a while.

Gary Parrish ‏@GaryParrishCBS
On that note, I’ll say this: Every administrator/coach/writer/fan I talked with loves Memphis as a tournament site b/c of arena/bars/etc. …

Gary Parrish ‏@GaryParrishCBS
… But the lack of quality hotels downtown is a major negative. There just aren’t enough nice places to stay downtown. That’s an issue.
 
Lots to do in Hartford for a week. Children's Science Center, Hatford a Stage/Bushnell, Front Street & Infinity Music Hall opening soon. Nice pubs & restaurants all within walking distance of the crappy XL. That arena must improve, and it looks like it will, including a lower bowl fan zone & better amenities.
 
Memphis was nice, Beale St was awesome. The FedEx Forum is beautiful.

Too bad nobody went to the games. I was there. Scalpers were practically giving tickets away. You could purchase a ticket for the championship game for $20, for any seat in the building, then walk down to the lower level.

Without Louisville there the whole weekend, the arena would have been empty.

Nobody in this conference travels well (without Louisville). We are going to have to fill this thing on our own, no matter who is playing.
 
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All I care about is being guaranteed the late game slot for MY convenience. Not wasting my time missing work for this silly little event.
 
WingU-Conn said:
Memphis was nice, Beale St was awesome. The FedEx Forum is beautiful.

Too bad nobody went to the games. I was there. Scalpers were practically giving tickets away. You could purchase a ticket for the championship game for $20, for any seat in the building, then walk down to the lower level.

Without Louisville there the whole weekend, the arena would have been empty.

Nobody in this conference travels well (without Louisville). We are going to have to fill this thing on our own, no matter who is playing.
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This was sort of true for the east regional final a the garden. Maybe not being able to relocate, but I stayed outside for an hour trying to flip two extra tickets. The events where there are multiple fanbases and therefore a surplus of resales coupled with the fact that online ticket brokers like stub hub are hugely bypassing the street market is really making for some good deals.
 
MilliniumPrince said:
Your avatar, Bazz holding a trophy standing above/on the NCAA. Worth more than a thousand words. You just won the internet for the week!!
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The only thing that would make that avatar/photo more complete is if Bazz was squatting and taking a dump on the NCAA. However he did the verbal equivalent with his comments on the podium which I will always love him for.
 
OkaForPrez said:
This was sort of true for the east regional final a the garden. Maybe not being able to relocate, but I stayed outside for an hour trying to flip two extra tickets. The events where there are multiple fanbases and therefore a surplus of resales coupled with the fact that online ticket brokers like stub hub are hugely bypassing the street market is really making for some good deals.
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People in Memphis weren't bypassing the street market. They were bypassing the games. Once Memphis lost (and even that game was only about 85% full) the arena was less than half full.

It went Louisville, then Memphis, then Cinci/UConn. Once we knocked out Memphis, 50-75% of their fans stopped going.
 
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]"Is it just me or is it absolute bull that Memphis UConn gets to play this tournament at home?"
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- Husky

I'm not going to bump the thread. We can discuss it here.

Is having the Tournament in Hartford more or less bull as having it in Memphis or MSG?
 
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I know my 5.00 lot. Will the other lots cooperate and not repeat the NCAA fiasco?
 
How irrelevant is the AAC? I just went to ESPN.com and there's nothing about this. I'd bet if there was an annoucement of this type from any of the big conferences it would be up on ESPN.com already. None of the big national sports web sites have anything on this except CBSSports.com who has a section called Eye on College Basketball where they do a really good job of posting all news about college basketball.
 
HooperScooper said:
How irrelevant is the AAC? I just went to ESPN.com and there's nothing about this. I'd bet if there was an annoucement of this type from any of the big conferences it would be up on ESPN.com already. None of the big national sports web sites have anything on this except CBSSports.com who has a section called Eye on College Basketball where they do a really good job of posting all news about college basketball.
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Well, not totally irrelevant as the lead story on ESPN men's college hoops page is about the conference. http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/
 
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Is it me are are there minimal changes happening to the arena bowl? From the pics, the fan zone is obvious, but it mentions lodge seating which there really was no visuals of besides a piss poor diagram/blurry seating chart. Am I right in assuming that the upper bowl will have the same God awful sight lines as always?
 
Tenspro2002 said:
The women used that this past year and may do so again. I think it seats less than 10K and probably isn't big enough to host the men's tournament.
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Bummer. That would have been an awesome place to have it just for the easy access, hotel rooms and other stuff to do between games.
 
I suppose it is good for us since UConn fans can attend, but it won't be a hit. Nobody else is coming. The simple reality is that the other teams in this conference don't really care. I'm sure some folks from Cinci, Memphis and maybe Temple will come to Hartford, but not in big numbers. I don't think we'll see many from the other schools. If they are going to travel, it will be for the NCAAs. Can you imagine anyone from USF or Tulane coming to Hartford in the winter to watch thier team lose in round 1?
 
Selfishly, I love this. But objectively, it's a really bad choice. Hartford is no fun.

Cool that it's gonna be in Orlando the next 2 years, maybe Dallas will get it sometime down the line if the American Airlines Center will host.
 
Hoophound said:
West Hartford Center, the Basketball Hall of Fame, the casinos and downtown Hartford attractions/dining/bars should all be featured on a program and in an email blast as well as on the AAC web site. The best way to get people to come to town is to spell everything out for them so they know how they will spend their time there.

I can have a blast in Greater Hartford for about a week before I get tired of it. A long weekend is a piece of cake, especially when there is a big event going on. I used to bring friends from Boston and New York to Hartford for games, concerts etc. and they'd always comment on how much fun it was and ask "why does Hartford have such a bad reputation?" The real answer was that in the morning the bustling party scene would be gone and downtown would be deserted. Hartford will have no problem providing a good venue over the weekend but the people need to be told how to get to West Hartford as well. In fact, a bus that stops at the Mark Twain house, Blue Back and WHC and loops back to the XL downtown every 30 minutes would be a great idea.
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Arouet said:
As someone who was in Memphis for the AAC tourney this year, this surprises me not at all. The AAC had an option to bring it back to Memphis, but the attendance was so miserable that I can't imagine they'd seriously consider it. Outside of the Memphis game, which itself was not nearly sold out (scarcely occupied above the lower top deck), the attendance was abysmal. I had seats in the upper terrace and I only sat there during the Memphis game, because they closed the entire upper level for all the other games due to poor ticket sales. Some of the games had maybe 500 people there, it was an embarrassment.

Even outside of UConn games, it would be difficult to pull as poorly as the tourney did when it was in Memphis, so this decision makes sense. It's really a shame for the conference, because Memphis has a beautiful arena, it's a nice location given Beale St. right next door, it's a reasonably drive for most of the conference members etc., even if UConn is never going to draw well there.

In Hartford the situation will be the opposite.... I hope these upgrades do something to spruce up the arena, because it's going to be tough to compare to the beautiful FedEx Forum, and if they're not significant we're not going to want to showcase that embarrassment of a venue to the world in prime time.
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Agree, I was in Memphis as well and for whatever reason the tourney didn't sell. There was no 2nd draw after Memphis. Too bad, it is a great town and if Beale St had been packed with fans from all the teams it could have been awesome.

Hartford doesn't surprise me as a remedy to this Memphis debacle (and reward/capitalize on Huskies success), but I don't think for a second that too many folks are coming from far away to spend a long weekend in Hartford. It is going to be a drive to games and back home for 90% of the arena.
 
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BoatShow said:
AAC: "If we give them the conference tourney maybe they'll stick around?!?!"
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Nice try Aresco, but it won't work. However, it looks like we have to be there through at least next season. So - what the hell...
 
Yes, the Hall of Fame is just 30 miles to the North. By tournament time, just 30 miles to the East will be a shiny new building, with a shine new Hall of Honor room, with a shiny new trophy in it, sitting among three others.

Any self-respecting college basketball fan will most humbly want to make the trek to this Mecca, as it is likely the only chance most fans from the other teams in this conference will ever have the chance to behold such a sight in person.
 
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Any team that wins that wins the NC can have the AAC tournament the next year in their hometown. I'm fine if this is the new system.
 
Husky25 said:
- Husky

I'm not going to bump the thread. We can discuss it here.

Is having the Tournament in Hartford more or less bull as having it in Memphis or MSG?
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I think UCONN earned the right.
 
Husky25 said:
Fans didn't fill up Madison Square Garden for the early games either.
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Why try and spin this as some negative about Memphis? I see this as the AAC cashing in on UConn historic NCAA run and fan enthusiasm...didn't over 150k show up for the parade?

Memphis has hosted 7 conference tournaments since 2005
 
UofMemphis said:
Why try and spin this as some negative about Memphis? I see this as the AAC cashing in on UConn historic NCAA run and fan enthusiasm...didn't over 150k show up for the parade?

Memphis has hosted 7 conference tournaments since 2005
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Exactly where in the post that you quoted did I mention Memphis? I quoted a post referring to the XL Center and I mention MSG in mine. I've been to many an early round Big East Tournament game throughout the 2000's at MSG on Wednesdays and Thursdays where the lower bowl was barely full and hardly anyone in the upper levels.

Memphis gets slighted here enough (I've probably done it myself), you certainly don't have to look for negative implications where there are none to be found.
 
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