MVC Tourney to Kansas City, MO?

[DUBulldog]

If we want to accommodate the western valley fans then play it in Salina, Kansas.

And you say that Iowans make you chuckle.

It would make it essentially a home tournament for WSU.

Other than WSU and Creighton, it is a longer distance to travel for every other MVC school.

And, I doubt Salina has the infrastructure (hotels, restaurants, entertainment) to host an event of that size.

Hell, they'd be better off at something like the Five Seasons Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Salina, Kansas? For reals?

With an arena that holds 7500??????....sh**, might as well have it in the Knapp Center.

DUBulldog, don't misinterpret. I really like Drake fans. They are really good people.

It's all good, Casey....I'm just having some fun with you. I was once young like you

[Ali]

KC and STL alternating would be good.

And Casey, how exactly did MSU "get the shaft" last year?

[DoubleJayAlum]

It's all good, Casey....

I like the ring to that. You should write advertising jingles.

[Heinro]

I live about 30 minutes from KC so I would obviously love the move.

But all bias aside lets be realistic. St. Louis and the Savis Center (whatever it is called now) is a dump compared to KC and the Sprint Center. I really enjoy Arch Madness but to think that it would lose its touch by being moved to KC is a joke.

[BirdmanBB]

I think a case could be made for Chicago as well. Here are some comparable drive times according to Google Maps.

To Chicago
Northern Iowa = 4:00
Illinois State = 2:00
Bradley = 2:45
Southern Illinois = 5:30
Evansville = 5:45
Indiana State = 3:30
Creighton = 7:45
Wichita State = 11:30
Drake = 5:30
Missouri State = 8:30

To Kansas City
Northern Iowa = 5:15
Illinois State = 6:20
Bradley = 6:20
Southern Illinois = 6:00
Evansville = 7:00
Indiana State = 6:50
Creighton = 3:10
Wichita State = 3:15
Drake = 3:15
Missouri State = 3:00

As you can see, the drive time difference for particularly WSU would suck, but a drive to Chicago is more favorable for a majority of schools in the MVC over Kansas City. I

If it were between Chicago and St. Louis, the only schools that could really gripe from the change or difference in distance from what is is currently would be SIU (3:30min difference), Evansville (2:45min.), WSU (4:15min) and MSU (5:00). Personally, I don't think SIU would gripe about it because of a solid fan base in chicago. So how about a rotation between St. Louis and Chicago instead? (**If the timing distance from what it currently is to St. Louis and chicago from each school was less than an hour I am assuming not many would have a big deal about it).

[DoubleJayAlum]

I think a case could be made for Chicago as well. Here are some comparable drive times according to Google Maps.

To Chicago
Northern Iowa = 4:00
Illinois State = 2:00
Bradley = 2:45
Southern Illinois = 5:30
Evansville = 5:45
Indiana State = 3:30
Creighton = 7:45
Wichita State = 11:30
Drake = 5:30
Missouri State = 8:30

To Kansas City
Northern Iowa = 5:15
Illinois State = 6:20
Bradley = 6:20
Southern Illinois = 6:00
Evansville = 7:00
Indiana State = 6:50
Creighton = 3:10
Wichita State = 3:15
Drake = 3:15
Missouri State = 3:00

As you can see, the drive time difference for particularly WSU would suck, but a drive to Chicago is more favorable for a majority of schools in the MVC over Kansas City. I

If it were between Chicago and St. Louis, the only schools that could really gripe from the change or difference in distance from what is is currently would be SIU (3:30min difference), Evansville (2:45min.), WSU (4:15min) and MSU (5:00). Personally, I don't think SIU would gripe about it because of a solid fan base in chicago. So how about a rotation between St. Louis and Chicago instead? (**If the timing distance from what it currently is to St. Louis and chicago from each school was less than an hour I am assuming not many would have a big deal about it).

Yes, by all means, lets have the western schools even have to travel farther to get to the tourney!

Here's the thing - measuring to each school and making a decision on which site is closer to the highest number of schools is silly because the schools do not all travel equally. Last year we had five schools that didn't even average 5K in attendence, with another averaging right at 5600. Do we really expect those schools to send large groups to the conference tourney when they have difficulty getting people to their home arenas? If we are going to do an analysis, lets base the analysis on an actual measure of the fanbases. Use something like number of tourney tickets sold by each school. You could even average that figure over a number of years.

Why punish the schools that routinely have attendance that is at least double the average attendance of half of the teams in the conference?

[BirdmanBB]

easy.....because those are the ones who will travel regardless. You move the tournament away from teams who don't travel well then you might as well forget about them all together.

The question has to be asked, is it the main goal of the MVC tourney to give the highest attending teams the advantage by placing the tourney in their backyards or is it to give an equal opportunity. Between Chicago and St. Louis the difference for CU is about 30min maybe. they could move it closer to KC for sure, but there would be no big difference for Jays fans from the current format if it were switched between Chicago and St. Louis every year.....so why not. Only team that would get screwed would be WSU, but like I and you somewhat mentioned, those guys will travel well regardless, so it wouldn't hurt the current attendance figures. Also, if you are making a vacation of it and are trying to do more than just see the MVC tourney, I hate to be biased, but Chicago has much, much more to offer than KC.

I am not saying it has to happen, but I will say that KC is not the only route that can be taken and it can be looked at more than one way.

Also, I mentioned this previously, but wasn't it announced in this past seasons tourney that a deal has been made to keep the tourney in St. louis for a bunch of years going forward? So all this talk is pretty much pointless for the next 5 or so years anyways.

[Aargh]

Wonderful attitude towards WSU fans - they travel well, so $crew 'em.

I believe the tourney would lose at least half of the WSU contingent. St. Louis is a long drive. Chicago is a flight.

[BirdmanBB]

Wonderful attitude towards WSU fans - they travel well, so $crew 'em.

I believe the tourney would lose at least half of the WSU contingent. St. Louis is a long drive. Chicago is a flight.

Good point. You might actually save money by flying to chicago instead of driving to st. louis. Southwest usually has pretty good deals for short flights to chicago.

[shocktheheart]

Wonderful attitude towards WSU fans - they travel well, so $crew 'em.

I believe the tourney would lose at least half of the WSU contingent. St. Louis is a long drive. Chicago is a flight.

Good point. You might actually save money by flying to chicago instead of driving to st. louis. Southwest usually has pretty good deals for short flights to chicago.

Southwest doesn't fly out of Wichita. I know United has a direct flight to Chicago and I just checked and for this years tournament to fly out on Thursday and fly back on Sunday would cost you $400 a seat. Not exactly cost affordable when you add in tickets, hotel, meals and spending money.