Welcome to The Holy Land of Hoops

I go to the BET tournament on a yearly basis and my alma mater is Stony Brook. The appeal of the Big East goes way beyond alumni bases. in NYC the whole causal and corporate crowd back the BET every year and I'm sure they follow the Big East in the tourney also.

Bill Marsh wrote:

Savannah Jay wrote:

Bill Marsh wrote:I don’t think a big alumni base is necessary in all circumstances. Notre Dame draws 80,000 fans to every home football game and gets huge TV ratings, sufficient to justify their own TV contract for football with NBC. They don’t have an enrollment any bigger than most Big East schools. With a similar enrollment, Duke is to college basketball what Notre Dame is to college football.

Notre Dame football is an animal unto itself...it's alumni base is a very small part of its following. Because it's the only Catholic school with championship pedigree in football (and one of the few to field an FBS team), there are a LOT of Notre Dame fans whose only connection to the university is that they are Catholic.

Agree. It’s not a perfect analogy, but I was trying to point out that when Villanova sells out Wells Fargo, those aren’t all Nova alums. Same thing when the Big East Tournament sells out The Garden.

I gotcha Bill...

And I agree that we need to "lift" DePaul, not boot 'em.

Leave DePaul alone...they are fine just where they are.

gtmoBlue wrote:Most folk in Omaha aren't catholic or alums and Creighton fills the CLink...

OK, I'll bite. Are there any other entertainment options in Omaha?

Sure. They have the same stuff as any other city in the US, perhaps just less of it than in the big cities.

Positive: Theatre, movies, opera, symphony, concerts, parks, lakes, museums, zoo, higher education, great medical
facilities. Sports; baseball (pro farm club and CWS),Creighton hoops, hockey, golf, rodeo, NCAA events (Swim championships,
volleyball championships, basketball regionals), etc. Arts, good restaurants, festivals, decent primary and secondary education,
Boys Town, etc.

Negative: Crime, drugs, violence, strip malls, mega shopping malls, 7-11 stores, Walmart, Internet, disparity in economic status for minorities, etc. No ocean.

If it's standard fare in Ohio, NJ, and most other states, it's also in Nebraska...Typical Americana.

paulxu wrote:

gtmoBlue wrote:Most folk in Omaha aren't catholic or alums and Creighton fills the CLink...

OK, I'll bite. Are there any other entertainment options in Omaha?

Do you mean other than the tractor races?

paulxu wrote:

gtmoBlue wrote:Most folk in Omaha aren't catholic or alums and Creighton fills the CLink...

OK, I'll bite. Are there any other entertainment options in Omaha?

Gitmo does list a lot of the great qualities of Omaha. Most anyone comes here, enjoys their time. Omaha is very hilly and green, lot of development in downtown and surrounding areas.It's not flat like people think of Nebraska ( and Western Nebraska is beautiful in it's own right with the Sandhills- huge ranches and rolling prairies. SIde note- Sand Hills Golf Course - western Nebraska designed by Ben Crenshaw has been rated by Golf Digest as the Top Course in the U.S in the last 50 years and, I believe, one of the top 10 Courses in America overall ).

Key point is that Omaha doesn't have professional teams and therefore is regarded as one of the best College or Event cities in the country. Top 7 in attendance in the country for Mens Bball the last 5-10 years (#5 the last two years- over 17,000 - it is Omaha's team -gitmo point). Omaha is the AAA team for the KC Royals, (and he noted and more): Omaha has hosted twice recently the Olympic Swim Trials (with record crowds), World Equestrian Championships last year, Baseball College World Series Championship ( for over 50 years-longest running NCAA championship venue), NCAA Womens Volleyball Championship, has the nation's top rated zoo (anywhere from 1-3 top zoos in America), great education both public and private ( Omaha has about 8-9 Catholic high schools and does have a large Catholic population- that doesn't define us, just to comment on Gitmo's post).

My buddies and I have attempted to go to new Big East games to see the new venues. Enjoyed the Dunk, Dougie's first year had a blast. Next year-- Cintas !! You are welcome to Omaha, and other than the possible bad winter weather, you will enjoy yourselves!

My daughter almost ended up in Omaha for med school and in her 1 visit was very impressed with the quality of life and city convenience including easy access to the airport. In the end in came down to $'s for her and she opted for an in state med school. I hope someday you and your buddies come to the UD Arena and campus, both great places but I'm beginning to get the feeling UD is going to end up in AAC.

The difference with Omaha compared to most other Big East cities is that Creighton hoops is the undisputed best sports entertainment option for the winter season (unless UNO puck is bigger than I realize). The only other school that can maybe claim the same is PC, but I don't think it's necessarily wrong to claim the New England region as a whole as their competition. For other schools:

Seton Hall and St. John's - Direct competition with the Knicks, Nets, Devils, Rangers, Islanders
Villanova - Direct competition with the Flyers, Sixers, and rest of the Big 5
Georgetown - Direct competition with the Capitals, Wizards, U of Maryland, arguably even the Virginia schools
Xavier - No major league pro sports besides the Bengals on Sundays, but UC and UofL are quality collegiate competition
Butler - Direct competition with the Pacers
Marquette- Direct competition with the Bucks
DePaul - Direct competition with the Bull and Blackhawks

7 (arguably 8 if you consider the Celtics for PC) of our 10 schools directly share a market with an NBA team. The plus is that it drives interest in the sport, the minus is that we'll never have the best hoops in town - which hurts the ability to draw the casual fan. Plus half of those schools have an NHL team to compete with as well - it's just another high quality sports entertainment product for the casual fan to consider against us. This is all before considering football - I don't know about the rest of you guys - but Seton Hall sees a significant attendance drop on Sunday afternoons when the Jets or Giants are playing.

Everyone talking about Omaha forgot to mention that Omaha hosted the Olympic Trial Curling Championships last fall. Talk about excitement! I think they actually had good crowds (for curling) and the US team that won in Omaha won Gold at the Olympics. While I mention that event in jest, Omaha does host a lot of national events because of our location in the middle of the country and also because of the excellent facilities downtown in and around the Clink and also the crowds that always show up. It would be nice to get a Pro team in town, but I don't see that happening anytime soon. We did have an NBA team in the 70's (KC/Omaha Kings) but that team went to Cincy and then to Sacramento. Omaha is a great town to raise a family, but we probably lack some of the entertainment options of our BE brethren!