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In-Depth

Hollis targets Greece, barnstorming tour as next big hoops events

If college basketball had a chief marketing officer, it would probably be Mark Hollis. The Michigan State athletic director has long been considered one of the game’s most innovative minds. Hollis had a hand in the 2003 BasketBowl at Ford Field, the first game in a dome with the court in the center of the football field, as well as the aircraft carrier game in 2011, to name a few of the Spartans’ biggest, unique events. Most recently, he’s talked about a barnstorming tour with three other schools that would play games in three NBA arenas, and he’s lobbied for a Michigan State-Southern California game (Spartans vs. Trojans) in Greece. As if he weren’t busy enough, Hollis will serve as chairman of the NCAA men’s basketball committee for the 2016-17 season. He shared his thoughts on these topics and others last week with SportsBusiness Journal’s Michael Smith.

Will Michigan State and Southern Cal play in Greece?
HOLLIS: It’s still conceptual at this point, but it’s something we’re pushing more aggressively than we have in the past. So maybe we can get it done before I retire, whenever that’s going to be. I’ve had the conversation with three ADs at Southern Cal and there continues to be high interest from both institutions. As we go through those, paramount is safety and it’s non-negotiable. Can we deliver a safe event? We’re getting to where we think we can.

■ What is the appeal of playing an international game like that?

HOLLIS: If you look at all the things we’ve done, there have been two important components. One is the experience for the student athlete, the memory-maker, doing something you’ll remember the rest of your life. The other is a cause. The aircraft carrier game — we did that for the men and women and the families. This game would be a chance to take a nation that’s struggling and having economic challenges and help them with an awareness in the U.S. You’re not just watching a basketball game, you’re seeing the realities of what’s happening around the world.

The three-city barnstorming tour with Florida, North Carolina and Texas planned for 2018 appears to be

Photo by: AP Images
on hold. What’s the latest?
HOLLIS: It really stimulated a lot of thoughts. Where we got concerned is with the economics of the trip. When we do these types of events, because we usually do them first, there’s not a huge upside revenue-wise, but we don’t want to lose money. As we explored the arenas, the travel, the hotels, we were just uncomfortable that, as a one-off event, it’d be able to drive revenue and keep the institutions whole from the standpoint of giving up a home game.
So we’re going to pull back and reassess. They’re three great cities (New York, Chicago, Los Angeles) and three great arenas, from an NBA standpoint. We looked at historical venues like the Palestra or Hinkle Fieldhouse or a train tour of the East Coast. The thing we’re most focused on was the opportunity for student athletes from four institutions to simply have a blast together, while playing in the games and experiencing the culture of these three cities. But if you can’t deliver it the right way, you step back and reassess. It’s very possible to look at it in a different form.

So many early season games are held in neutral sites, but could some of these high-profile events be played on campus?
HOLLIS: It’s something we talk about all the time. We’ve got to focus on games at home, but you also don’t want to give up the opportunity for the student athletes to go to the Bahamas, or go to Pearl Harbor, and the TV exposure that comes with it. Michigan State does need to be a little more selfish about the games we play at the Breslin Center, but I don’t think we’ll ever step away from the kinds of events that give us that positive return for the kids.

How many ideas do you have left up your sleeve?

HOLLIS: If you work the way we hope to work at Michigan State, they’re not all our ideas. In most cases, they’re a collaboration of talking to people. That’s how the Phil Knight birthday party got started. “Wouldn’t it be cool to go to Portland for Phil’s 80th birthday?” That turned into one multiteam event and then two multiteam events. The best ideas come from a collaboration of great ideas and not being isolated in the thought process.

A few schools like Michigan State consistently play in front of packed houses. Most do not. How much of a concern is the trend of declining attendance?
HOLLIS: It’s something we have to pay attention to. Everybody wants to play in front of a packed house. But as you look at society and as you look at television, those are some common threats across the country. Providing the access for TV like we do in college sports, and the pros, that has to be weighed against the social experience of going to the game. … We’ve got to be careful that we’re not just building events for TV and that we’re continuing to create the excitement that can be sustained over seasons, not just a few games. We’ve got to make sure we’re delivering an experience that people want.

What’s one thing college basketball could do to make a bigger impact during football season?
HOLLIS: In my opinion, we ought to be starting the basketball season earlier, so that you’re not starting the season on a Friday, and then shutting off for college football on a Saturday and the NFL on Sunday and losing momentum. I’d like to see a Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday-Friday open. A four-day buildup would be a positive for college basketball, just to get it kicked off with more than one day of games. The pros do a fabulous job promoting the start of the season. With college sports, the good thing is that we have a lot of different sports and the bad thing is that we have a lot of different sports. They bleed over each other. … A huge issue for me is being able to give student athletes time off in December so they can spend time with family. Getting the season off to a slightly earlier start might relieve a little pressure with that.

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