Big Sky Tournament in Billings

[BelgradeBobcat]

This could be pretty huge. For one-if they do a pre-determined site all teams would go. That'd probably be our only chance for either the men or women to make the Big Sky tournament the way things are going.

http://billingsgazette.com/sports/colle ... gregrachac

I'm intrigued to say the least.

[The Butcher]

If the Cats were halfway decent I would be really excited for this option! But as things stand today...

[Hawks86]

It’s expected that the men’s and women’s tournaments will include all 12 teams beginning next year. The current format allows only the top eight.

[CatBlitz]

It’s expected that the men’s and women’s tournaments will include all 12 teams beginning next year. The current format allows only the top eight.

Awful.

[SonomaCat]

Sounds like a great idea to me ... it could become a really big deal in terms of MT sporting events. Anything to get more attention back to college bball in Montana is a plus for me.

Reno seems like a more appealing destination for most teams, due to availability of flights and entertainment (although I am not a fan of Reno personally), but maybe the lure of having it in the heart of the conference (which Montana is) would be a bigger draw as it would appeal more to the locals than it would in Reno.

[RickRund]

I used to love it when the CATS would play in Reno. A 50 mile trip would be nice.
I remember the "86" tourney where the CATS beat the griz in the Championship. Saw lots of old friends there. And in "83" it was at the Convention Center but don't remember much about it.

[bincitysioux]

If it must be a predetermined or neutral site, I am disappointed that SLC is apparently not in the running. SLC has direct flights from 4 Big Sky cities: Missoula, Bozeman, Sacramento, and Portland. Fargo, Denver, Phoenix, and Spokane have direct flights for 5 nearby Big Sky schools. And it is a short drive for 3 Big Sky schools. Perhaps most importantly, it is within spitting distance of Weber St, the one Big Sky school that really really gets behind basketball. I may be wrong, but I assume SLC is to Weber alumni what Minneapolis-St. Paul is to North Dakota alumni. I think having it in Weber's backyard, SLC, would be similar to the Final Five (the tournament of our former hockey conference) in the Gophers backyard in St. Paul. No, I am not saying I think there would be 17,000 fans in SLC, but there may be 6,000-8,000 for games that Weber is involved with. I figure half that at best anywhere else (except Ogden). Since SLC isn't an option, I guess I am hoping for Ogden for all these reasons. SLC would be a tad more "neutral".

Seems like Reno & Billings have the most steam right now. Reno would be the better "destination" in my opinion. But Reno is not easy to get to by any means. I guess Reno would be the more enjoyable city to pass the time in between games. I can't imagine what one would do in Billings for 3 days if your team lost the first day. Go home I guess. Spokane makes way more sense to me than Billings.

If I were to put a Top 5 out there from the sites mentioned in the article, mine would be:
1.Ogden---Weber's home town, short drive from SLC airport which is a major hub
2.Spokane---Short drive for 3-4 BSC teams, decent air service
3.Billings---Selfishly, I put Billings ahead of Reno just because it would be faster to drive from GF to Billings than fly from GF to Reno
4.Reno---Truly neutral, fun non-basketball things to do, not so easy to get there though
5.Missoula---The Griz draw pretty good for basketball so attendance would be OK here. Short drive for a few BSC teams

As I said, if travel costs and attendance are the two biggest factors for this tournament, then IMO SLC is the best location to satisfy both collectively for the entire conference. Since SLC isn't option, I'd say Ogden is the way to go, although I don't really love the idea of having it at the home venue of a conference member under a "predetermined site" format.

I really like the current format though. It is certainly not perfect but it does make the entire regular season exciting, and it gives the best chance to put the league's best team in the NCAA tournament. I imagine it is a major hassle to set things up in a week's time or less, but I still don't see why the regular season couldn't end a week earlier than it currently does, which would allow for twice as much time for everybody to get their poop in a group.

[BelgradeBobcat]

If it must be a predetermined or neutral site, I am disappointed that SLC is apparently not in the running. SLC has direct flights from 4 Big Sky cities: Missoula, Bozeman, Sacramento, and Portland. Fargo, Denver, Phoenix, and Spokane have direct flights for 5 nearby Big Sky schools. And it is a short drive for 3 Big Sky schools. Perhaps most importantly, it is within spitting distance of Weber St, the one Big Sky school that really really gets behind basketball. I may be wrong, but I assume SLC is to Weber alumni what Minneapolis-St. Paul is to North Dakota alumni. I think having it in Weber's backyard, SLC, would be similar to the Final Five (the tournament of our former hockey conference) in the Gophers backyard in St. Paul. No, I am not saying I think there would be 17,000 fans in SLC, but there may be 6,000-8,000 for games that Weber is involved with. I figure half that at best anywhere else (except Ogden). Since SLC isn't an option, I guess I am hoping for Ogden for all these reasons. SLC would be a tad more "neutral".

Seems like Reno & Billings have the most steam right now. Reno would be the better "destination" in my opinion. But Reno is not easy to get to by any means. I guess Reno would be the more enjoyable city to pass the time in between games. I can't imagine what one would do in Billings for 3 days if your team lost the first day. Go home I guess. Spokane makes way more sense to me than Billings.

If I were to put a Top 5 out there from the sites mentioned in the article, mine would be:
1.Ogden---Weber's home town, short drive from SLC airport which is a major hub
2.Spokane---Short drive for 3-4 BSC teams, decent air service
3.Billings---Selfishly, I put Billings ahead of Reno just because it would be faster to drive from GF to Billings than fly from GF to Reno
4.Reno---Truly neutral, fun non-basketball things to do, not so easy to get there though
5.Missoula---The Griz draw pretty good for basketball so attendance would be OK here. Short drive for a few BSC teams

As I said, if travel costs and attendance are the two biggest factors for this tournament, then IMO SLC is the best location to satisfy both collectively for the entire conference. Since SLC isn't option, I'd say Ogden is the way to go, although I don't really love the idea of having it at the home venue of a conference member under a "predetermined site" format.

I really like the current format though. It is certainly not perfect but it does make the entire regular season exciting, and it gives the best chance to put the league's best team in the NCAA tournament. I imagine it is a major hassle to set things up in a week's time or less, but I still don't see why the regular season couldn't end a week earlier than it currently does, which would allow for twice as much time for everybody to get their poop in a group.

You might have missed that Loveland/Greeley Colorado have thrown a hat in the ring as well to host both the men's and women's tournaments. Looks like Loveland has a nice and appropriately sized arena: http://www.budweisereventscenter.com/about-us DIA has direct flights to pretty much everywhere. It's close to Denver, which is a fun place to spend a few days.

I think of all the choices available, Billings is the the neutral site with the best chance to draw a decent crowd. Like the article said, the tournament would probably get lost in Spokane, Reno, or the Denver area. If they put the tournament in Ogden or Missoula it would give the Wildcats or griz a huge huge advantage that they might not deserve.

[bincitysioux]

You might have missed that Loveland/Greeley Colorado have thrown a hat in the ring as well to host both the men's and women's tournaments. Looks like Loveland has a nice and appropriately sized arena: http://www.budweisereventscenter.com/about-us DIA has direct flights to pretty much everywhere. It's close to Denver, which is a fun place to spend a few days.

I think of all the choices available, Billings is the the neutral site with the best chance to draw a decent crowd. Like the article said, the tournament would probably get lost in Spokane, Reno, or the Denver area. If they put the tournament in Ogden or Missoula it would give the Wildcats or griz a huge huge advantage that they might not deserve.

I don't know why Loveland/Greeley didn't register with me. Probably because it has Greeley connected to it and the aromatic nature of the city turns me off.

Loveland doesn't look like a horrible option now though when I look at it closer. Although it is really not a short drive for anyone except UNC. As a major western metropolitan center, there are probably a substantial number of alumni from Big Sky schools in Denver, so that is a plus. I know Denver has the 2nd largest number of UND alums after Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Upon further review, I see that Billings does have direct flights from both SLC and Portland, so that helps their case. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around spending an extended period of time in smallish city like Billings. Seems like Denver, SLC, even Spokane would be far more interesting. Reno and the oftend discussed Las Vegas seem to make sense if someone is wanting to make it an all around vacation type experience.

My biggest concern about a predetermined site is attendance, that is why I feel it needs to be at a place where it is easy for Weber, and to a lesser extent Griz fans to get to. With a direct flight from SLC and being in the home state of both the Griz and Bobcats, perhaps Billings does fit the bill.

[SonomaCat]

Is it possible that the cost to rent a facility in SLC would be too high? In Billings, they would probably practically give it away just to drive the hotel business.

Ogden would probably host it cheap, but if you wanted to use a neutral site arena that may get more expensive.

If we're talking about "things to do," however, I don't think SLC would have anything on Billings. There are lots of cool days trips you can do around Billings if you have a day to fill, and if you are just looking for short things to do between games then I'd say the adult-friendly alternatives in Billings are actually far better.

[77matcat]

Excellent point!!!


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[BelgradeBobcat]

If we're talking about "things to do," however, I don't think SLC would have anything on Billings. There are lots of cool days trips you can do around Billings if you have a day to fill, and if you are just looking for short things to do between games then I'd say the adult-friendly alternatives in Billings are actually far better.

Skiing at Red Lodge? I'm not a big skier but that sounds like something. Of course there's always the Rimrock Mall! Being from a Class C school-when the State tournament was in Billings we were always very excited because there was soooooo much to do (go to the mall).

[WeedKillinCat]

If we're talking about "things to do," however, I don't think SLC would have anything on Billings. There are lots of cool days trips you can do around Billings if you have a day to fill, and if you are just looking for short things to do between games then I'd say the adult-friendly alternatives in Billings are actually far better.

Skiing at Red Lodge? I'm not a big skier but that sounds like something. Of course there's always the Rimrock Mall! Being from a Class C school-when the State tournament was in Billings we were always very excited because there was soooooo much to do (go to the mall).

Unfortunately the mall isn't what it used to be. They have recently lost some tenants

[BelgradeBobcat]

Unfortunately the mall isn't what it used to be. They have recently lost some tenants

Yeah-we never go there anymore either. It's a national trend: http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/complete ... .qs1jYO4o2

[sacstateman]

Unfortunately the mall isn't what it used to be. They have recently lost some tenants

Yeah-we never go there anymore either. It's a national trend: http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/complete ... .qs1jYO4o2

I don't think many Sac St fans are going to Billings to go shopping......LOL

[ameriCATS]

I think that if the tournament is held in any other location besides Billings the attendance will be a total joke. MSU and UM are the kings of the Big Sky in terms of attendance and revenue. Even though we suck this year their will be a whole lot more MSU fans at the tournament then their would be if the Cats were contenders and the game was in Reno or wherever and I would say the same for UM as well that they would draw more in Billings on a down year than Reno or wherever on a good year. Their is no other team in the conference that you can say that about, except if it is in Ogden and they are a little down.

The Big Sky Conference doesn't care if your bored or not between games, they just care that you have bought tickets to be at the games. And they will get the most people at the games if it is Billings. If the Big Sky Conference wants to make money they need to cater to the Montana schools. This will be huge for college basketball in Montana if this happens and I believe it will help the Conference to start becoming a better rated conference with basketball as a higher priority at both Montana schools.

Win-win for the Big Sky. More revenue from the tournament and a step in the right direction in terms of elevating college basketball in Montana for the two schools that run the conference.

[msu_agfan]

I hope we made a competitive bid. Over on Eastern Washington's board they are discussing this and they are sure it is going to be Salt lake or Gonzaga land. funny how everyone has their bias'.

[BelgradeBobcat]

http://www.rgj.com/story/sports/2015/01 ... /22360333/

^^^The story out of Reno. They're going to be tough to beat I think-especially since this ain't their first rodeo and they can host both the men's and the women's tournaments.

[BelgradeBobcat]

Reno's venue:

I had assumed they would hold it in the Lawlor Arena where the Nevada Wolf Pack play, but this venue seems to be more appropriately sized for the Big Sky tournament.

[SonomaCat]

I have to admit, I'd be tempted to head over to Reno for the tourney if they got it. I kind of hate casinos, but after a few drinks in me I could adapt to the local scenery.