ACC to Barclays

[Bill Marsh]

The biggest advantage of the Garden is not the Garden itself but what's nearby. There is a great hotel right across the street, shopping at Macy's a block away, taxi cabs in front of your hotel to take you to Broadway, museums, Central Park, the financial district, cruise lines, and an endless supply of great restaurants all minutes away even if you can't figure out the subways. I'm a Brooklyn native but it's just not Manhattan. A Big East Tournament is a week's vacation in nY, not just a series of basketball games. Even if your team is eliminated in the first round, you don't run out of things to do, so it was still worth the trip.

[Bluejay]

What does the AAC moving to Brooklyn do to the A10's contract to play there? Does that mean the A10 now will have to go somewhere else? If it does, I think that only helps us more as we would be the only conference with a tourney there yearly.

As to the B1G, I live in B1g country. I don't think the B1G ever had any serious interest in NYC; they were tire kickers. They want to stay in places like Chicago (I don't blame them on that) and Indy.

[Letsgonova]

Having the ACC tourney in NYC guarantees that Cuse fans will dominate, something the Tobacco Road schools will HATE. UNC and Duke travel well, and Duke especially has a large NYC alumni base, but Cuse will still be 70% of the crowd, thus ensuring that the tourney will return most years to the comforting environs of the Piedmont Triad.

[TheHall]

Having the ACC tourney in NYC guarantees that Cuse fans will dominate, something the Tobacco Road schools will HATE. UNC and Duke travel well, and Duke especially has a large NYC alumni base, but Cuse will still be 70% of the crowd, thus ensuring that the tourney will return most years to the comforting environs of the Piedmont Triad.

What BC fans won't pack the joint in BK too....Bwahahahaha!!!

[NJRedman]

What does the AAC moving to Brooklyn do to the A10's contract to play there? Does that mean the A10 now will have to go somewhere else? If it does, I think that only helps us more as we would be the only conference with a tourney there yearly.

As to the B1G, I live in B1g country. I don't think the B1G ever had any serious interest in NYC; they were tire kickers. They want to stay in places like Chicago (I don't blame them on that) and Indy.

The B1G has a TON of alumni in NYC. More than any other conference. I know so many people who went to MSU, UM, PSU, Iowa (lots of Iowa kids), UW, NW they are all over the place. They are from and go to school in the mid-west then move to NYC to get jobs or are from NYC/NJ who want to go away for school then after graduating come home to work since NYC is a great place to find a job unlike the ole rust belt. (No offense mid-western friends)

I think the B1G like the ACC would like to do it every once in a while to appease the alumni and get some good press but it's core base wants it to stay in the mid-west, so it would be once in a while. Not even in a rotation but once or twice a decade.

[redmen9194]

First, it is clear that the ACC wanted the Garden. No doubt. It was not just about playing in New York City, it was about bringing the tourney to the Garden and being part of the lore of the arena and trying to build what the Big East built at the Garden. That was never happening since the Big East is there until 2026 and the Garden wants a long term deal - it is not going to be part of a rotation. Reports are of benchmarks needing to be met by the Big East, but those benchmarks only involve membership changes. The fact that they are going to the Barclays Center tells you two things - one they can't get into MSG and two they will not make any type of commitment to keep their tourney in NYC. While Syracuse brings a lot of fans to NYC, the amount of interest in Syracuse in the City is more a marketing myth than anything else. Look at the numbers.

In the last fifteen or so years, St. John's / Syracuse has sold out one time. That was two years ago after the announcement Syracuse was leaving the Big East. Last season, Syracuse played Temple at the Garden. Temple had a sizable crowd, but Cuse had more fans there. The attendance was about 14k. So unless Syracuse plays a local team, they are not lighting an attendance fire in NYC. This season, when Cuse played St. John's, attendance was 16k. Well below a sell-out. Most media sources in the city had the crowd at 50-50. I was at the game and it may have been more like 60/40 Cuse. Assuming that was the number, that would mean Cuse fans numbered about 9,600. Is that really a spectacular number? That is why you will never see a Cuse home game at the Garden. Because they know the only way to make money would be to sell it out. To do that they would need to play Duke, which will take half the seats. Now, Cuse fans will go the Barclays for the ACC tourney, but the ACC will probably do better in ticket sales by keeping the event in North Carolina. The ACC has had Big East envy for years. Anyone who thinks playing at the Barclays Center is just as good as playing on the Corner of 7th and 34th Street at the World Most Famous Arena has never been to both places.

[billyjack]

First, it is clear that the ACC wanted the Garden. No doubt. It was not just about playing in New York City, it was about bringing the tourney to the Garden and being part of the lore of the arena and trying to build what the Big East built at the Garden...

...The ACC has had Big East envy for years. Anyone who thinks playing at the Barclays Center is just as good as playing on the Corner of 7th and 34th Street at the World Most Famous Arena has never been to both places.

Great post.

other semi-related thoughts:
The first BET at MSG was in 1983. The overwhelming popularity and enthusiasm at each of the first 3 BET's, in host cities of Providence-80, Syracuse-81 and Hartford-82 (and then NYC in '83) convinced Dave Gavitt that MSG could and should be a permanent home.

Originally I think the intent was to change it year-to-year to each of the Big East cities, so that everyone could host it and they could promote their city and school. I think other conferences should rotate between cities. They'd be announced several years in advance so that hotels and tickets could be arranged easily. The drawback is that the hosting team would get the home court advantage each year, but I think that is better than empty arenas at some tourneys. You couldn't have the team with the best record host because accommodations would have to be thrown together with too short of a notice.

[billyfa]

First, it is clear that the ACC wanted the Garden. No doubt. It was not just about playing in New York City, it was about bringing the tourney to the Garden and being part of the lore of the arena and trying to build what the Big East built at the Garden. That was never happening since the Big East is there until 2026 and the Garden wants a long term deal - it is not going to be part of a rotation. Reports are of benchmarks needing to be met by the Big East, but those benchmarks only involve membership changes. The fact that they are going to the Barclays Center tells you two things - one they can't get into MSG and two they will not make any type of commitment to keep their tourney in NYC. While Syracuse brings a lot of fans to NYC, the amount of interest in Syracuse in the City is more a marketing myth than anything else. Look at the numbers.

In the last fifteen or so years, St. John's / Syracuse has sold out one time. That was two years ago after the announcement Syracuse was leaving the Big East. Last season, Syracuse played Temple at the Garden. Temple had a sizable crowd, but Cuse had more fans there. The attendance was about 14k. So unless Syracuse plays a local team, they are not lighting an attendance fire in NYC. This season, when Cuse played St. John's, attendance was 16k. Well below a sell-out. Most media sources in the city had the crowd at 50-50. I was at the game and it may have been more like 60/40 Cuse. Assuming that was the number, that would mean Cuse fans numbered about 9,600. Is that really a spectacular number? That is why you will never see a Cuse home game at the Garden. Because they know the only way to make money would be to sell it out. To do that they would need to play Duke, which will take half the seats. Now, Cuse fans will go the Barclays for the ACC tourney, but the ACC will probably do better in ticket sales by keeping the event in North Carolina. The ACC has had Big East envy for years. Anyone who thinks playing at the Barclays Center is just as good as playing on the Corner of 7th and 34th Street at the World Most Famous Arena has never been to both places.

Great post and an interesting way of looking at the CUSE attendance in NYC. I live in NY and you CANNOT compare the two AREAS the arenas are in (night and day) or the exterior and interior of the two arenas. The garden is like no other place to watch basketball.

[Westbrook36]

Since Nova plays Syracuse soon and St. John's just played them, I've been checking out the Cuse board recently. Wow, the thread on this subject over there is astounding in it's level of arrogance. MSG is just chomping it the bit to get rid of the BE, in 2 years the BE will be lucky to be playing in front of 10,000 in their championship game. The ACC's only concern for grabbing MSG long term is the B1G, it's only a matter of time before the BE can't met MSG contractual requirements and is shown the door, yada, yada, yada. It's comical.

[Bill Marsh]

Since Nova plays Syracuse soon and St. John's just played them, I've been checking out the Cuse board recently. Wow, the thread on this subject over there is astounding in it's level of arrogance. MSG is just chomping it the bit to get rid of the BE, in 2 years the BE will be lucky to be playing in front of 10,000 in their championship game. The ACC's only concern for grabbing MSG long term is the B1G, it's only a matter of time before the BE can't met MSG contractual requirements and is shown the door, yada, yada, yada. It's comical.

Not sure who this Syracuse team. Are you talking about that irrelevant school, stuck way up in the boonies of central upstate, NY, closer to Hamilton, Ontario than it is to New York City?