After watching the rounds of 16 and 8 this week, I came to a conclusion. The NCAA needs to change it's philosophy of utilizing the biggest-possible venues for the NCAA tournament.
From Indianapolis to Glendale, this isn't really working anymore. If fans show up, they complain about sightlines as these football domes have low-angle rows of seats that simply aren't ideal for watching a basketball game...but, more-importantly, not enough people are coming as 50, 40, 30 or even 20,000 fans aren't coming to the games.
And, as hard as CBS' producers try, they can't avoid the thousands of empty seats with their cameras...empty seats send the message that no one's watching; and that's simply not the case. Plus, the use of these facilities can't be as affordable as utilizing a large, designed-for-basketball arena. Plus, players and coaches alike all talk about the adjustment to shooting in a venue so large that there are literally breezes and depth perception is extremely difficult.
I know there are questions of scheduling that are a bit more difficult when you're playing in an NBA team's arena, but that can be worked out...with the exception of the Final Four, the NCAA needs to stop over-leasing space.
6 comments:
One issues is that the NCAA requires that a Final Four host to host a Regional Final the year before. If they are going to continue having football stadiums host the Final Fours (and they are scheduled to do so for several years), there will be at least one regional with a football arena. With Glendale, I think they wanted to see how feasible the setup was in that stadium. I expect Glendale to host several Final Fours (only behind Indy in terms of frequency) since it is the only stadium west of San Antonio that is suitable for a Final Four.
Once the logistics are figured out, they shouldn't need to keep that self-imposed rule each time. For instance, as the RCA Dome became a regular stop, they didn't need to test out its feasibility once the configuration was set.
Couldn't agree more. Announced attendance for games in Glendale was 21k, even less actually showed up. The Phoenix Suns arena in downtown Phoenix has a capacity of 18,500. Since its AN ACTUAL BASKETBALL ARENA (!!!!!!!!!!!) and with it being downtown would make for a much better experience. The look of a tiny basketball court in a giant football stadium looks retarded. It was hard to watch all weekend. All the empty seats in the background, the stiff nets that don't swish, the rims that look and sound awful.....I can't take it anymore. Championship basketball games should be played in BASKETBALL ARENAS!!!!!!!
Don't need to be NBA arenas, either. Why not college venues? That's the whole point here....
//Why not college venues? That's the whole point here....//
The point here is money, and the college venues won't generate enough to keep the NCAA happy.
I attended the Indy games and the sightlines were indeed brutal. The scary thing is that the NCAA plans to double the seating (to over 70,000 seats) for next year's Final Four in Indy.
Granted, Lucas Oil was a better venue to watch basketball than the RCA Dome. But why not cram everyone in Conseco and create a true college atmosphere?
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