Confidence Level w/ Ackerman?

[LeMoyne00]

I figured I'd bump this back up after reading something today... a lot of people were asking what conference offices do, what a staff is suppose to be for and why offices are important. The Big Ten is opening an office in midtown Manhattan by June 1st and will have an office in DC. Not only for conference staff, but for members to utilize while on business or in DC I'm assuming LOBBYING government.

http://www.bigten.org/genrel/041014aad.html

Three Big Ten staff members working in branding, championships, communications and compliance will be based in the New York City office to provide expanded coverage and service, while Big Ten Commissioner James E. Delany and senior staff will maintain a presence in both the New York City office and the conference's current headquarters located in Rosemont, Ill. In addition, other conference and institutional administrators will utilize the space as necessary when conducting business on the East Coast.

They will have functioning full-time staff in NYC and in Rosemont and our conference is still borrowing space from the lawyer. May be we need to step up the branding, championships, and communication for the conference... so we can sellout our tourney and make more on sponsorships!

[billyjack]

I figured I'd bump this back up after reading something today... a lot of people were asking what conference offices do, what a staff is suppose to be for and why offices are important. The Big Ten is opening an office in midtown Manhattan by June 1st and will have an office in DC. Not only for conference staff, but for members to utilize while on business or in DC I'm assuming LOBBYING government.

http://www.bigten.org/genrel/041014aad.html

Three Big Ten staff members working in branding, championships, communications and compliance will be based in the New York City office to provide expanded coverage and service, while Big Ten Commissioner James E. Delany and senior staff will maintain a presence in both the New York City office and the conference's current headquarters located in Rosemont, Ill. In addition, other conference and institutional administrators will utilize the space as necessary when conducting business on the East Coast.

They will have functioning full-time staff in NYC and in Rosemont and our conference is still borrowing space from the lawyer. May be we need to step up the branding, championships, and communication for the conference... so we can sellout our tourney and make more on sponsorships!

I'm not sure why I should care about this?
Georgetown is in Washington.
St John's is in NYC.
So we already live where some other dude is willing to rent space.
This is like if we owned a mansion in Beverly Hills, and some guy rents an apartment in Van Nuys or Encino... so?
Or if we owned a waterfront place in Palm Beach and some retirees from Hoboken spend their winter in Plant City.
So now it's more convenient for Delany to lobby the Georgetown alums that run DC.

If the Big Ten wanted to make a splash, they could partner with Starbucks in DC... there's one on every corner... the B1G could be the official college conference of Starbucks...

[LeMoyne00]

I'm not sure why I should care about this?
Georgetown is in Washington.
St John's is in NYC.
So we already live where some other dude is willing to rent space.
This is like if we owned a mansion in Beverly Hills, and some guy rents an apartment in Van Nuys or Encino... so?
Or if we owned a waterfront place in Palm Beach and some retirees from Hoboken spend their winter in Plant City.
So now it's more convenient for Delany to lobby the Georgetown alums that run DC.

If the Big Ten wanted to make a splash, they could partner with Starbucks in DC... there's one on every corner... the B1G could be the official college conference of Starbucks...

You missed the point. The Big East offices are already in NYC, however as of March, our conference had less full-time staff (as we utilize staff from our member's athletic departments to fill rolls usually in a conference office) than they will have in their satellite offices. We didn't sellout a single session of our tournament, nor did they sell every sponsorship opportunity. My guess - we need more staff to market, promote, and handle corporate relations for the conference.

I mean under your logic, because we have members in cities I mentioned - St John's should be the conference go-to for dealing with marketers and media in NYC for the conference and tourney, or Georgetown should be lobbying your schools' congressperson. That is silly!

A strong conference office helps do that for members and creates a place for conference business and meetings - and yes, it doesn't hurt to have space for a home-away-from-home for members' athletic departments coming to NY for their own business too! Our conference has had over a year to set this up and do it, and the Big Ten plans to do it in two months. If we want to be a major conference, we need to act like a real conference - we need a staff to go to bat for us!

[dmac80]

I'm curious. What is your confidence level with Val Ackerman, now that she's been on the job for a full year?

How long did it take to make the website up and running? (Wasn't it not fully functional until Fall last year?)

I must say I have not heard a lot from her, and, if I recall, when Providence won the BE tournament she barely said a word while giving out the trophy.

Do we have permanent offices set up yet? Will they be in New York?

I know expansion talks have seemingly been tabled, but, say Dayton makes the Final Four this year. It would behoove the league not to invite Dayton and Saint Louis in that case.

I must say I have had my worries, but I remain confident in her abilities and leadership. She had glowing recommendations last year.

I'm not politically correct so I'm not afraid to say I didn't like the hire from day one. This is a men's basketball conference, that's it. She has great credentials in the women's game and will help grow the women's game. Who cares? I am not opposed to her because she is a woman, it's just that she doesn't seem to have a clue or any clout in the men's game. She is too quiet. I hope she proves me dead wrong and I look like an idiot, but I'm worried. I thought VP of the NCAA tourney Dan Gavitt was a slam dunk, would love to know if he wasn't interested or the priests are idiots.

[NJRedman]

I'm not sure why I should care about this?
Georgetown is in Washington.
St John's is in NYC.
So we already live where some other dude is willing to rent space.
This is like if we owned a mansion in Beverly Hills, and some guy rents an apartment in Van Nuys or Encino... so?
Or if we owned a waterfront place in Palm Beach and some retirees from Hoboken spend their winter in Plant City.
So now it's more convenient for Delany to lobby the Georgetown alums that run DC.

If the Big Ten wanted to make a splash, they could partner with Starbucks in DC... there's one on every corner... the B1G could be the official college conference of Starbucks...

You missed the point. The Big East offices are already in NYC, however as of March, our conference had less full-time staff (as we utilize staff from our member's athletic departments to fill rolls usually in a conference office) than they will have in their satellite offices. We didn't sellout a single session of our tournament, nor did they sell every sponsorship opportunity. My guess - we need more staff to market, promote, and handle corporate relations for the conference.

I mean under your logic, because we have members in cities I mentioned - St John's should be the conference go-to for dealing with marketers and media in NYC for the conference and tourney, or Georgetown should be lobbying your schools' congressperson. That is silly!

A strong conference office helps do that for members and creates a place for conference business and meetings - and yes, it doesn't hurt to have space for a home-away-from-home for members' athletic departments coming to NY for their own business too! Our conference has had over a year to set this up and do it, and the Big Ten plans to do it in two months. If we want to be a major conference, we need to act like a real conference - we need a staff to go to bat for us!

You are comparing a conference that has been around for almost 100 years to one that hasn't even been around for a year. Yeah, apples to apples right?