📡 SEC Gymnastics Championship in .... St. Louis?

[planomateo]

What the hell SEC... Really don't understand the whole St. Louis idea.

 

[TerryP]

What the hell SEC... Really don't understand the whole St. Louis idea.

It'll be hard to compare the basketball tournaments attendance versus what we'll see from a one day SEC gymnastics event ... IF it were possible, I'd bet gymnastics gets better numbers.

 

[planomateo]

Still doesn't make sense from a geographical standpoint. I don't care that MIzzou is near STL. Nashville is much easier to get to.

Have I told you how much I hate OU today?

 

[TerryP]

Have I told you how much I hate OU today?

NO!

 

[TerryP]

On a different note...while watching the recaps of the VA upset last night they mentioned the numbers...what was it, 135-1 is the record now for #1 vs #16 seeds in basketball?

My first thought upon seeing that was "that's reminiscent of Bama's streak against Auburn." It's been 38 years now...record sets at 121-1.

 

[TUSKtimes]

Wrong thread. Gymnastics makes me dizzy.

 

[TerryP]

Wrong thread. Gymnastics makes me dizzy.

Try holding your head still while watching.

 

[rick4bama]

Wrong thread. Gymnastics makes me dizzy.

Still a little celebration from the win over VT??

 

[OldPlayer]

You know, the SEC doesn't just pick a city and say, "you're going to host this championship." The cities bid on each championship (also known as pay money to the SEC). St. Louis must have come up with an attractive compensation plan.

 

[TerryP]

You know, the SEC doesn't just pick a city and say, "you're going to host this championship." The cities bid on each championship (also known as pay money to the SEC). St. Louis must have come up with an attractive compensation plan.

The ACC didn't just pick its location for their football conference championship a few years ago. A lot of cities bid, just like they do in any conference, and Orlando was one of the first "neutral sites" to host the ACCCG.

They still chose Orlando and it was a still a bad choice. Horrible choice. Attendance looked like a UAB football game and ticket prices for the ACCCG were just as inexpensive, if not a little less. I recall some ticket packages that were downright cheap!

Congrats to St. Louis for a winning bid. It's still a horrible location choice for the SEC.

A few years ago (I'm thinking it was 2014) the SEC announced what they were doing for the SECT for basketball. Nashville was chosen as the primary location--a good choice. Two other cities, St Louis and Tampa Bay, were selected for two other years. What's really ironic here is when they were announced Slive said bad attendance at Tampa was an anomaly. Funny really, considering the worst attendance the SEC has ever had at a tourney was in Orlando. (Top three Orlando, Atlanta (tornado game,) and Tampa Bay. And they're going back to Tampa in '20, by choice. Like Mizzou, but not to the same extreme, these cities are on the outside of the SEC footprint. (A little over 103K attended this years SECT, 14 games...average of 7000+ per game. Not good.)

If this is all about expanding the footprint for tournaments, okay. Just say so. It leaves me shaking my head a bit considering how many better locations there are to choose from. Hell, there are five or six teams ranked in the top 11-12 that are within a half of a days drive from a location like Nashville or Memphis.

 

[OldPlayer]

It leaves me shaking my head a bit considering how many better locations there are to choose from.

Did any of those "better locations" bid for the championship?

 

[TerryP]

Did any of those "better locations" bid for the championship?

Yes, quite a few. Nashville and Memphis were two, New Orleans another, and the two we've mentioned here. Birmingham wanted in/expressed interest but didn't have the seating capacity they were looking for as a host.

I recall the article covering the basketball decisions citing it was the first time the SEC expanded outside of its original geographic footprint.

 

[planomateo]

I was curious on the numbers, would be curious to see what the SEC front office thinks about STL.

Jon Solomon on the STL bid back in 2013, Meet SEC in St. Louis? SEC negotiates with 3 cities for 2017 and 2018 basketball tournaments

Attendance numbers are suspect from some of the tweets I've seen.