The Big Ten men's basketball tournament begins today, and with the conference's footprint now including N.Y., the league is "trying to drive home that point by holding its marquee basketball event at Madison Square Garden, even if the date is a little quirky -- a week earlier than most other major conferences," according to Michael Smith of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. N.Y. has been the "object of affection from college conferences working hard to plant a flag in the Manhattan concrete the last few years." The Big East has "forever had dibs" on MSG and still does. The ACC last year "opted for Barclays Center and will return to Brooklyn next week" for its tournament. The Big Ten has "decided to play its tournament a week earlier as a means to get in Madison Square Garden on the building’s 50th anniversary." The conference is "expecting a full house at MSG, what with its 88,000 alumni" in the N.Y. area and "close to 1 million in that stretch from southern Connecticut to northern Virginia." The Big Ten has "flooded the zone with advertising that includes the dates of the tournament and how to get tickets across a backdrop of the Manhattan skyline." Other ads flash “March is On” and “Big Ten in the Big Apple.” The signage "runs in Times Square, MSG Network displays and digital displays at Penn Station and on bus stops, phone booths and street kiosks throughout the city." The conference also has "made media buys on Altice Media and local radio, TV and print" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 2/26 issue).
PUZZLING DECISION: YAHOO SPORTS' Pat Forde wrote the move to N.Y. is "either part of a shrewd strategic plan or an egotistical indulgence" by Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany. But the "obsession with the East Coast has hardly yielded great fruit in terms of competitive enhancement of the conference." And holding the tournament at MSG "comes with no small risk." Opting for league tournaments in DC last year and N.Y. this year "plays to alumni bases in those areas and maybe -- maybe -- provides an exposure boost, but it also deprives most of the loyal season-ticket buyers of a reasonable commute to the event" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 2/26). In Michigan, Graham Couch writes there is "no reasonable argument" that having the tournament in N.Y. is "good for Big Ten fans or players" (LANSING STATE JOURNAL, 2/28). In Chicago, Teddy Greenstein wrote Big Ten basketball at MSG "makes as much sense as giardiniera slathered onto a bagel" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 2/27).
MONEY GRAB: In Indianapolis, Gregg Doyel writes the Big Ten is "shamelessly chasing the money again." It is playing its men’s basketball tournament in the "wrong place at the wrong time because MONEY!" Fans should "not ignore how badly the Big Ten has devalued its basketball tournament, even if the city hosting the damn thing will in fact be ignoring its basketball tournament." To take the traditional Midwest conference into MSG, the Big Ten had to "schedule its conference tourney a week ahead of schedule, alongside the Atlantic Sun and Big South and Ohio Valley, because serious basketball leagues play their conference tournament the week before the NCAA tournament." Doyel: "Let’s be clear here: this is Jim Delany’s fault" (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 2/28).
WHERE WILL ACC GO? ACC Commissioner John Swofford on Monday said that a decision on future men's tournament sites "may be coming soon." In Greensboro, John Brasier noted the decision would ultimately be made by conference ADs. Swofford said that officials and conference members are "happy with the rotation of the tournament" since '13 when Greensboro -- which has hosted the tournament 26 times -- "hosted the first of three straight events," followed by visits to DC and Brooklyn. The next two tournaments are in Brooklyn and Charlotte. Swofford: "It's a much different league than it used to be -- it's a much larger geographical footprint. We feel it's important to be in New York and the Northeast" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 2/27).
