ACC 'seriously investigating' playing tournament at MSG

[UConnJim]

Wait up! MSG very old?? Madison Square Garden is basically a brand new arena now since the whole interior has been gutted and rebuilt over the last 2 summers with another phase of renovations scheduled to begin in about a month.

I figured the northeast schools would push for a conference tournament in this area. I guarantee Coach K would love the idea of bringing the tournament to the Garden. Duke will have a lot of fans go there and maybe even more that would show up to Greensboro.

Folks, everyone misses the point on MSG. There are ~ 19k seats and 15 ACC schools. After sponsors, bands, ..., there are only about 1k seats per school to sell and you have to buy the whole tournament. There is no concern about selling out MSG. As for the new Big East, with currently 10 schools and 19k seats, there would be a need to sell about 1.5k seats per school. I think it would probably sell out year in and year out.

Seems like a mute point for now as the Big East will probably keep it under the current contract. Barclays is a possibility as the A-10 doesn't really draw that well. The ACC could start at Barclays and then move to MSG after the BE contract runs out.

 

[upstater]

Folks, everyone misses the point on MSG. There are ~ 19k seats and 15 ACC schools. After sponsors, bands, ..., there are only about 1k seats per school to sell and you have to buy the whole tournament. There is no concern about selling out MSG. As for the new Big East, with currently 10 schools and 19k seats, there would be a need to sell about 1.5k seats per school. I think it would probably sell out year in and year out.

Seems like a mute point for now as the Big East will probably keep it under the current contract. Barclays is a possibility as the A-10 doesn't really draw that well. The ACC could start at Barclays and then move to MSG after the BE contract runs out.

The thing is, the BET always had a slew of people in town looking for tickets from the losers. So all those schools that lose early will have to rely on walk-ups from Pitt and Syracuse fans. The real question is, can Pitt and Syracuse sop up all those tickets from the semis? If so, they'll have a lot of fans.

The other question: what happens when Cuse and Pitt are knocked out in the early days? Are duke and UNC fans going to be standing by at midnight on a Weds. to buy those tickets?

 

[zls44]

The thing is, the BET always had a slew of people in town looking for tickets from the losers. So all those schools that lose early will have to rely on walk-ups from Pitt and Syracuse fans. The real question is, can Pitt and Syracuse sop up all those tickets from the semis? If so, they'll have a lot of fans.

The other question: what happens when Cuse and Pitt are knocked out in the early days? Are duke and UNC fans going to be standing by at midnight on a Weds. to buy those tickets?

MSG wants someone who will sell all available tickets. They will get that with the ACC, very easily. Re-sale is not a concern.

 

[Carl Spackler]

I think you are overplaying the scripted / unscripted stuff. New Yorkers aren't dumb. But most of them also don't head to Greensboro to see the ACC tourney because there is no draw. UNC / Louisville and Duke / Syracuse on a semi-final night? SOLD OUT. The thing about NYC is you don't NEED all of the travelers. There are enough people here (and I mean here because I work 1 block away from MSG) to fill the arena for any great event. Nobody will come to the early rounds. But nobody went to those games anyway. Finals and semis will be epic and quarters might be great also. That's all you need.

Interesting. Fine. I'm playing. I'll stop playing. You are right. If those programs are playing on Friday night,a nd they're a grouping that includes top 25 ranks, of course it's a sell out and a huge draw.

I'm really pissed that we don't have the tournament at MSG anymore. Everything else that's happened, I can tolerate, and I really don't think hurts all that much moving forward, as long as we schedule well and continue to recruit well, in all sports, and compete nationally, and I don't see anything changing there, and it's actually doing well, I think - football needs to catch up to basketball, and quick.

I also think though, that a ranked grouping of Michigan /UCONN and Ohio State/Indiana on a Friday night, at MSG would be at least equal, if not bigger, and that if you could put Michigan v. Rutgers and/or Ohio State v. UCONN in the meadowlands regularly on the gridiron?

I've said for years, that the New York market is not fools gold for college sports, it's simply too big for any single program. The Yankees don't even own NYC. What has a chance in the New York market to thrive - is an entire conference. THe big east was able to tap into it in basketball.

The ACC? I just don't see the confernece generating the interest in the market that the Big EAst had. maybe I'm blind from rage, but I don't see it.

The big 10? this is a conference, with both it's football and basketball product and (on my knees praying - God willing) UCONN included, most definitely could generate the interest necessary to get a slice of the Big Apple.

and that is all it takes. A slice of the Big Apple market, a small slice - is larger than the majority of markets in the entire country.

 

[SectionKK]

I think you are overplaying the scripted / unscripted stuff. New Yorkers aren't dumb. But most of them also don't head to Greensboro to see the ACC tourney because there is no draw. UNC / Louisville and Duke / Syracuse on a semi-final night? SOLD OUT. The thing about NYC is you don't NEED all of the travelers. There are enough people here (and I mean here because I work 1 block away from MSG) to fill the arena for any great event. Nobody will come to the early rounds. But nobody went to those games anyway. Finals and semis will be epic and quarters might be great also. That's all you need.

This is 100% right. Tons of New Yorkers went to the BE tournament at MSG who had no connection to the schools in it because it was great basketball and a big event. The big name schools in the ACC will have no trouble drawing as well or better than the Big East schools did. Sure it'll be harder for the NC schools to get there, but this is about the ACC thinking bigger and making its tournament more of a national even, like the Big East tournament always was (but probably no longer will be with the NNBE involved).

 

[CL82]

MSG wants someone who will sell all available tickets. They will get that with the ACC, very easily. Re-sale is not a concern.

It will be when your company is broadcasting games in half empty arena.

 

[Fishy]

The biggest problem the ACC will have is that MSG doesn't need them.

The new Big East will sell the building out just fine. And they'll want to do it every year, unlike the ACC who will have to bend the knee to their North Carolinian overlords and give them their Greensboro tournaments.

File this one with the ACC Network stories - likely a pipe dream. The ACC will have to head to Brooklyn if they want to see a big city up close.

 

[zls44]

It will be when your company is broadcasting games in half empty arena.

If people aren't at the arena, they might be watching the game on TV. Fine with me.

 

[zls44]

The ACC will have to head to Brooklyn if they want to see a big city up close.

Or buy tickets to the SEC FB title game.

 

[Carl Spackler]

The biggest problem the ACC will have is that MSG doesn't need them.

The new Big East will sell the building out just fine. And they'll want to do it every year, unlike the ACC who will have to bend the knee to their North Carolinian overlords and give them their Greensboro tournaments.

File this one with the ACC Network stories - likely a pipe dream. The ACC will have to head to Brooklyn if they want to see a big city up close.

The ACC already got sent back to North Carolina with their tail between their legs once by both MSG and Barclays management. I'm looking forward to it happening again.

Becuase the espn guy is right, the only thing that matters to the MSG/Barcalys people is that every single tournament game is a paid sellout. PAID sellout, adn they already got that.

The rest of this, from me, was just bitching, becuase it pisses me off that we aren't playing March basketball in Madison Square Garden anytime scheduled in the near future. I'm so glad I saw the guys cut down the nets in person in 2011. Little did I know at the time, how special that would turn out to be.

 

[J187Money]

I found this online Jmoney, by accident, just doing a simple google search with keywords "uconn aau" .

THis is the kind of thing, that I hope is being shown to Big 10 type folks, and to me, is actually the very first thing I've seen that pretty much makes clear in what direction we are heading as a university with our academics, and research, and educational values. Sooner or later, athletics will follow. I can only hope.

http://provost.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/2012-November-7-Department-Head-Presentation.pdf

Everyone who thinks the administration isn't trying needs to look at that...

 

[SectionKK]

The biggest problem the ACC will have is that MSG doesn't need them.

The new Big East will sell the building out just fine. And they'll want to do it every year, unlike the ACC who will have to bend the knee to their North Carolinian overlords and give them their Greensboro tournaments.

File this one with the ACC Network stories - likely a pipe dream. The ACC will have to head to Brooklyn if they want to see a big city up close.

Are you sure of that? I don't know that the New Big East will be able to replicate the interest and attendance now that UConn, Syracuse, Pitt, Notre Dame, and soon Louisville are no longer in the mix. That's a lot of big teams to lose. I don't think a tournament headlined by Georgetown and Villanova (in good years) will draw nearly as many people. McMurphy said MSG can get out of the contract with the NBE if it doesn't meet certain benchmarks, so it's obviously at least a little concerned that might happen.

 

[Fishy]

Are you kidding?

They will pack MSG every single year. The new midwestern schools will send people in hordes.

MSG won't swap that for the ACC floating in every third or fourth year.

 

[upstater]

The ACC already got sent back to North Carolina with their tail between their legs once by both MSG and Barclays management. I'm looking forward to it happening again.

Becuase the espn guy is right, the only thing that matters to the MSG/Barcalys people is that every single tournament game is a paid sellout. PAID sellout, adn they already got that.

The rest of this, from me, was just bitching, becuase it pisses me off that we aren't playing March basketball in Madison Square Garden anytime scheduled in the near future. I'm so glad I saw the guys cut down the nets in person in 2011. Little did I know at the time, how special that would turn out to be.

MSG doesn't care about paid sellouts either. They don't get that money. All they care about is how much they can charge for rent. So the question is, which conference has more fans willing to spend big money? I read that even the Old Big East was in the red a few times on the rental cost. They didn't even break even.

That's what MSG cares about.

 

[CL82]

If people aren't at the arena, they might be watching the game on TV. Fine with me.

They might be. Of course, then again, they might not be.