Menu
Download the app

SBJ subscribers – Enhance your experience with the revamped iOS app

Events and Attractions

ACC's First Foray To N.Y. Sparks Debate About How To Grow While Maintaining Traditions

The ACC Tournament at Barclays Center "has not exactly taken over" N.Y., but "tickets are sold out, the basketball has been good and North Carolina will play Duke on Friday night so things are going just fine," according to Ralph Russo of the AP. The ACC's attempt to "plant a flag in the largest media market in the country and expose its schools to new audiences also has sparked a debate within the conference about how best to balance broadening its reach with sticking to traditions." This week has "ranged from a nice change of pace to a tolerable inconvenience." For ACC Commissioner John Swofford, though, this is "no experiment." North Carolina coach Roy Williams said, "I love moving the tournament around. I think it's good. But the Masters was played at Augusta National. Augusta's not a very big town. We keep taking the tournament back there." Louisville coach Rick Pitino said, "New York is great for the fans. DC is great for the fans and so on. Greensboro was great for an eight-team league on Tobacco Road where all the teams are from, they gather together, and it's one big happy fraternity. But now we've got them out of the fraternity, it needs to be a good environment, and this certainly is a good environment" (AP, 3/10).

TOBACCO ROAD RIVALRY
: In Greensboro, Brent Wilkerson-New writes, "Perhaps greatest for New York is the matchup it will get Friday night, with Duke and Carolina bringing an edition of college basketball’s biggest rivalry to the Big Apple." Greensboro and Charlotte "offer a raucous crowd when the rivals get together just a few miles down the road, but it’s hard to tell what Big East country will hold" (Greensboro NEWS & RECORD, 3/10). In Raleigh, Luke DeCock writes the the atmosphere for Friday's semifinal "has to be Greensboro on the East River." DeCock: "Anything less would be a tremendous disappointment. As the ACC tournament goes, you can’t ask the basketball gods for more than this" (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 3/10). In N.Y., Mike Vaccaro writes under the header, "Brooklyn Lucky To See This Legendary Rivalry Up Close." Vaccaro: "This is what we needed in this first ACC Tournament in New York City" (N.Y. POST, 3/10).

BIG APPLE OF THEIR EYES: The NEWS & RECORD's Wilkerson-New writes the ACC will "never be the king of New York -- not so long as the Big East owns the second weekend of March at Madison Square Garden." The Big East Tournament "isn’t just a long weekend in the big city," it is the "city’s tournament -- and it has been for 35 years." Thursday's early session included a Villanova-St. John's matchup, so the crowd was "perhaps buoyed by the defending national champs and hometown Red Storm." MSG continued to "fill in through the first half, with only a few swaths of empty seats in the rafters." Just a few miles south in Brooklyn, UNC was pulling away from Miami in front of a "growing but quiet crowd" (Greensboro NEWS & RECORD, 3/10). In DC, Barry Svrluga writes under the header, "Start Spreading The News: College Basketball's Battle For New York Is On" (WASHINGTON POST, 3/10). 

NO HARD FEELINGS?
Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said that his comments this week on preferring the ACC Tournament be played in bigger cities were about what is "best for the league, not a commentary about Greensboro nor its hospitality." Boeheim appeared on a Winston-Salem-based radio show on Thursday and said, "It's about what is the best place in terms of getting exposure and getting near recruits." He added, "I love Greensboro. I think it's a great place, and I thought they did a great job with the tournament. We had the best hosts and treatment of any tournament that I've been at" (Greensboro NEWS & RECORD, 3/10). The Boston Globe’s Bob Ryan said the ACC Tournament “belongs in Greensboro every other year, at least." Ryan: "It’s the heart of ACC Country, not New York City.” The Colorado Springs Gazette’s Woody Paige said if Boeheim “didn’t want to play in Greensboro, he should have stayed in the Big East" ("Around The Horn," ESPN2, 3/9).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2017/03/10/Events-and-Attractions/ACC-Tourney.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2017/03/10/Events-and-Attractions/ACC-Tourney.aspx

CLOSE