Friday, June 27, 2003
Did the PL Brass Screw Up the Most Important Event of the Year?
There's one thing this league has going for itself when it comes to March, and that's that we always put on an exciting finale, because ESPN demands that we have the final at the highest seed's gym. This means, as you have seen the last few years, sellout crowds, yelling, excitement, as much alcohol as college kids can drink before 4:30, and an atmosphere that lends itself to drama. The home court idea puts the away team at a disadvantage, sure, but as HC showed us AU folks two years ago, it isn't everything (while I'm on the topic, quit kicking yourself Steve Miles, neither of AU's playoff losses were your fault, we had other problems).
But all this might go by the wayside. The most important event in this league (please don't try to tell me the football playoffs are anywhere near) might be played in front of a half empty crowd, with no sellout, yelling, and most importantly, concealed alcohol.
AU, Bucknell, Holy Cross, and Lehigh are all on spring break during the scheduled date of the final. This means that if one of these schools was the highest seed during the tourney, they could struggle to fill the place up. I don't know if this is as much a problem for other schools, but I've been to games during winter break at AU, and it ain't pretty. I'm talking 1,500 people, no where near the 5,500 needed to fill the place. These schools would have to convice their students to come back early for the game-- maybe tougher than it sounds, since a lot of people are on weeklong trips already booked way in advance when they would have to return early to school.
If we moved the final up a week, things would work out a lot better. I understand there's concerns about having the first two rounds of the tournament on the weekend so they can draw attendance there, but what's more important, the 6 games played in a second-rate barn or the final on ESPN?
Next: Some scheduling news/thoughts & the RPI @ 2:20 PM
There's one thing this league has going for itself when it comes to March, and that's that we always put on an exciting finale, because ESPN demands that we have the final at the highest seed's gym. This means, as you have seen the last few years, sellout crowds, yelling, excitement, as much alcohol as college kids can drink before 4:30, and an atmosphere that lends itself to drama. The home court idea puts the away team at a disadvantage, sure, but as HC showed us AU folks two years ago, it isn't everything (while I'm on the topic, quit kicking yourself Steve Miles, neither of AU's playoff losses were your fault, we had other problems).
But all this might go by the wayside. The most important event in this league (please don't try to tell me the football playoffs are anywhere near) might be played in front of a half empty crowd, with no sellout, yelling, and most importantly, concealed alcohol.
AU, Bucknell, Holy Cross, and Lehigh are all on spring break during the scheduled date of the final. This means that if one of these schools was the highest seed during the tourney, they could struggle to fill the place up. I don't know if this is as much a problem for other schools, but I've been to games during winter break at AU, and it ain't pretty. I'm talking 1,500 people, no where near the 5,500 needed to fill the place. These schools would have to convice their students to come back early for the game-- maybe tougher than it sounds, since a lot of people are on weeklong trips already booked way in advance when they would have to return early to school.
If we moved the final up a week, things would work out a lot better. I understand there's concerns about having the first two rounds of the tournament on the weekend so they can draw attendance there, but what's more important, the 6 games played in a second-rate barn or the final on ESPN?
Next: Some scheduling news/thoughts & the RPI @ 2:20 PM
