Big 12 Tournament--ugh to 5 straight years in KC

[Crimson King]

Kinda lost in the defection talk last year was the conference's boneheaded decision to select Kansas City to host the basketball tournaments in 2012-14. That was apparently a trade-off for placing football at JerryWorld in 2011-13. Of course, none of those football games will be played.

Beebe said at the time that the B12 wasn't anchoring championships, but 5 straight years at one site is way too much. I like KC, but my group who has been to the tournament every year since 1998 is already talking about bailing next year for Vegas.

The conference needs to move its now-signature event around. Dumb move.

 

[StoopsBros]

Totally agree. As a Texas resident (moving to Dallas), I'd like to see it in this region on occasion.

 

[Big Old Booger]

Kinda lost in the defection talk last year was the conference's boneheaded decision to select Kansas City to host the basketball tournaments in 2012-14. That was apparently a trade-off for placing football at JerryWorld in 2011-13. Of course, none of those football games will be played.

Beebe said at the time that the B12 wasn't anchoring championships, but 5 straight years at one site is way too much. I like KC, but my group who has been to the tournament every year since 1998 is already talking about bailing next year for Vegas.

The conference needs to move its now-signature event around. Dumb move.

I live in KC, so I don't mind this but since we won't be competing for the tourney championship probably this year or next, I don't mind that it's in KC. I don't want it back in OKC until we have a chance to profit from home court advantage like KU and MU have all these years.

 

[WTSooner]

I know a lot of people didn't like it down there, but I always thought it was just fine in Dallas.

Maybe the crowds weren't as big, but I don't think the difference was that great, and most of the difference were KU fans that didn't make the trip. I'd rather have an empty arena sometimes is that means no having a bunch of KU fans everywhere.

 

[Bk2X]

All good. It will probably take that long before we have a chance at making it more than 1 game in the tournament.

 

[realdallassooner]

Also since we have two less "north" teams; makes it that much less convenient for the majority.

I can understand Jerry World that is a brand new facility; probably the nicest of it's kind in the world. I don't understand KC on the other hand. AAC in Dallas is nicer than anything up there, right??

 

[SoonerEyeDoc]

I live in KC and love it here but feel it should rotate between here and OKC. The "homecourt" stuff is overblown; OU won multiple Big 12 titles in Kemper in front of partisan crowds. When the Big 8 was around, this was the most logical place for a variety of reasons, mainly the geographic center of the league. With the Tx schools, the geographic center has shifted to OKC so I think it's only fair to move it between OKC and KC. Dallas isn't a basketball town and shouldn't ever get it again as far as I'm concerned.

 

[campbest]

Dallas had their chance and no one showed up. Rotate it between OKC and KC, probably the best two locations. Personally, I think the KC venue is far superior of a fan experience when you include the atmosphere in and around the arena.

I don't understand KC on the other hand. AAC in Dallas is nicer than anything up there, right??

Have you ever been to the Sprint Center? It's pretty nice...couple it with P&L and you have a great time.

 

[Big Old Booger]

Dallas had their chance and no one showed up. Rotate it between OKC and KC, probably the best two locations. Personally, I think the KC venue is far superior of a fan experience when you include the atmosphere in and around the arena.



Have you ever been to the Sprint Center? It's pretty nice...couple it with P&L and you have a great time.

camp -- are you a KU fan?

 

[Section31]

Dallas had their chance and no one showed up. Rotate it between OKC and KC, probably the best two locations. Personally, I think the KC venue is far superior of a fan experience when you include the atmosphere in and around the arena.



Have you ever been to the Sprint Center? It's pretty nice...couple it with P&L and you have a great time.

I believe for BOTH tournaments, men and women, OKC is truly hard to beat. The fan experience (the two locations are very similar in that aspect) and ease of getting around is also second to none...

 

[Big Old Booger]

I believe for BOTH tournaments, men and women, OKC is truly hard to beat. The fan experience (the two locations are very similar in that aspect) and ease of getting around is also second to none...

KC is pretty hard to beat in that respect, too.

The sprint Center is 3 blocks from downtown auditorium where the women play, and between the 2 venues is the P&L district, which is pretty cool.

OKC is across the street, but bricktown is a good 4-6 block walk and the hotels in OKC are close to the arena but again 4-6 blocks from Bricktown. In KC, the P&L has 3 hotels and another 3 hotels just 1 block away.

The womens tournament is supported better in OKC if OU is playing on the last day, but the last time we played the tourneys in OKC, OU lost in the semis so nobody was at the finals.

KC isn't supported that much better, but ISU always has a big contingent of fans as does KSU and they go to most all of the womens games.

All in all, both OKC and KC are very similar as far as the Big 12 tourney is concerned, and both have positives and negatives. You can't go wrong with either one.

 

[WTSooner]

Dallas had their chance and no one showed up.

Are there numbers that support this?

Because I went every year it was in Dallas, and the crowds weren't great, but they were solid. Of course they crowds will always be better in Kansas, it's right down the road from the only Big 12 school that has rabid bball fans.

Just like any football or baseball tournament (similiar to that of basketball) will have more interest in a southern state, b/c of OU and UT's sucess.

 

[Sam]

Put it in OKC, its in the middle of the conference. 5 teams south of it, 5 teams north of it. Works out for all.

 

[WTSooner]

http://www.big12sports.com/fls/1041...11guide/11ChampMediaGuide.pdf?DB_OEM_ID=10410

Page 43.

This site shows attendance. Pretty consistent year to year. The worst year in the last 9 was two years ago in OKC. Dallas was on par with KC.

I know everybody likes to try and judge the crowd, but most people never judge it right. The crowds in Dallas were just fine. Even when you consider that for two of the years, KU didn't even make the championship game.

 

[StoopsBros]

Dallas, KC and OKC...rotate every year. Simple enough. Then you can throw in St. Louis, Tulsa and San Antonio into the mix. Though I don't think those places would necessarily be great places, they have arenas to host a tourney(s).

 

[campbest]

camp -- are you a KU fan?

Not sure what this has to do with anything, but my only allegiance to KU is through my father who played ball there in the 70's. And to be honest, he was one of the biggest Roy Williams haters on the planet when I was growing up.

Have been to two Big XII tournaments, one in KC and the other in OKC. Personally, I despise Bricktown and think P&L is a much cooler environment. Sure OKC would help level the playing field for when we basically play road games in KC, but I still enjoy the experience. Now if P&L didn't exist and the only alternative was to go to Westport or The Plaza, then count me out on KC. Lived up there for two years so I am very familiar with the area. Could definitely see the rational for rotating sites...it makes way more sense IMO. (just not Dallas...and I live here!)

Not going to lie, still at an age where I want to watch OU win, but I'm also not going to travel to a site if the party scene sucks.

 

[Big Old Booger]

Not sure what this has to do with anything, but my only allegiance to KU is through my father who played ball there in the 70's. And to be honest, he was one of the biggest Roy Williams haters on the planet when I was growing up.

Have been to two Big XII tournaments, one in KC and the other in OKC. Personally, I despise Bricktown and think P&L is a much cooler environment. Sure OKC would help level the playing field for when we basically play road games in KC, but I still enjoy the experience. Now if P&L didn't exist and the only alternative was to go to Westport or The Plaza, then count me out on KC. Lived up there for two years so I am very familiar with the area. Could definitely see the rational for rotating sites...it makes way more sense IMO. (just not Dallas...and I live here!)

Not going to lie, still at an age where I want to watch OU win, but I'm also not going to travel to a site if the party scene sucks.

It has nothing to do with this topic, but you chimed in on a topic on Friday with a post that sounded like you were a KU fan but you didn't really say either way. That's why I was asking.

I didn't know your dad played there.

So, when OU and KU plays, who do you root for? Be honest...

I agree with pretty much everything you said as the P&L is pretty cool, especially at night when basketball is going on in the Sprint Center. Of course, I'm bias because my office is in the P&L so I can walk the 2 blocks to the Sprint Center and get a ticket for the mens games without having to pay for parking and buying lunch (take my lunch to work every day).

 

[campbest]

It has nothing to do with this topic, but you chimed in on a topic on Friday with a post that sounded like you were a KU fan but you didn't really say either way. That's why I was asking.

I didn't know your dad played there.

So, when OU and KU plays, who do you root for? Be honest...

OU hands down, not even a discussion. Never been to a KU board just to prove my point.

I just like good college basketball period...when KU and Oregon squared off in back-to-back years (2002 and 2003) I rooted for the Ducks hard because I loved Freddie Jones, Luke Ridnour and Luke Jackson. They were real fun to watch.

I agree with pretty much everything you said as the P&L is pretty cool, especially at night when basketball is going on in the Sprint Center. Of course, I'm bias because my office is in the P&L so I can walk the 2 blocks to the Sprint Center and get a ticket for the mens games without having to pay for parking and buying lunch (take my lunch to work every day).

Very jealous, the only reason I would want the tournament in Dallas is so I could play hookie from work and watch ball all day. Really enjoyed my time in KC and love the city in general. Wish the football game wouldn't have relocated to Dallas full time (doesn't matter now, I know), because even though it was cold I always had a great time.

 

[Crimson King]

I'd rank the arenas this way: AAC, Sprint, Ford.
Local interest this way: KC, OKC, Dallas.
And the entertainment districts this way: OKC, KC, Dallas.

Dallas won't get it again unless they put the men in JerryWorld and the women at AAC. There is no entertainment district around JW, so that would suck.

Kinda sucks that one year in OKC, we weren't good, and the other year, the Ags beat us in a "5 days later" game.

I have no problem moving it around to Tulsa, San Antonio, Des Moines, wherever. Just don't park it in one spot for a half-decade.

 

[Sawyer]

KC is a good location for all six of the remaining Big 8 teams. It probably sucks for fans in Texas... but screw them.

I'm fine rotating between KC and OKC, but don't really see the point in going all the way down to Dallas or to the outer edges of the conference boundaries to the east (St. Louis) or north (anywhere in Iowa).