Creighton's invitation

[cu8493]

Won't put 21,000 in their for BE tournament, but Omaha will put 6 to 8 grand in there, possibly 10K or better for a finals if CU is in it. It is a stadium that doesn't look bad 1/3rd full, because you don't notice the empty upper deck so much.

[cu8493]

http://www.omaha.com/article/20130321/BLUEJAYS/703219899

If interested, here is an article from Omaha World Herald on the process. Creighton's President was very active in lobbying for inclusion.

[blueblood]

Empty? Last weekend against a terrible Bradley team the three game ave attendance was just under 3000 per game. In 3 weeks Creighton is hosting a tourney with Nebraska, Oklahoma State, and Rutgers. Expect over 10,000 per game for those round robin games. If the weather is good for the CU-NU game they could easily get over 15000. Creighton was 10th in the NCAA in attendance last year. That's why it has to be here.

[dnisblue]

Keep some perspective on what attendance would be for a conference baseball tournament in Omaha. Here are some attendance figures when CU hosted in 2011:
1931, 1364, 3213, 2318, 6939.
There were weather issues in the early part of the tournament, which messed up the schedule later. But still. CU was regular season champion and won the tournament. You can imagine what would have happened had CU been eliminated early.

[Wizard of Westroads]

Putting the tourney in Omaha makes sense for a conference that wants to be bigtime. It's the same logic for putting basketball at the Garden. Omaha is the home of the College World Series, the Mecca of college baseball. Why would you want to put it anywhere else?

[Masterofreality]

Because you might want to consider baseball crazy Cincinnati.

It's also centrally located. Put the tournament in a major league facility.

[blueblood]

Reds would have scheduling issues. With TD you can pick your dates. Other teams like Minnesota have tried putting college games in their MLB park. Did not work in regards to attendance. TD needs the events. They would low ball to get it.

[Wizard of Westroads]

Because you might want to consider baseball crazy Cincinnati.

It's also centrally located. Put the tournament in a major league facility.

It would be played in an empty stadium. If you want an MLB venue, then Yankee Stadium would be better. The point is Omaha is the hub of college baseball and people would turn out because they don't have MLB. While I'm a Creighton fan obviously, I wouldn't argue for the basketball tournament in Omaha. But Omaha IS college baseball, and it's the logical place to play the tournament.