Yes, I'm bringing this to OOTB:THR because I sorta just like doing that now. Plus no one will respond to this on Radar with the Heels playing right now.
How would y'all fix the ACC Tournament? It's too darn long. In today's modern sports where attendance is down virtually everywhere in every sport, the big conferences are swimming against a very powerful stream by adding games, but more importantly, by adding days to the tournament length. Obviously, adding days was a necessity because of the expanded conference. It just is not feasible or practical for ACC school fans to attend an event that goes from TUESDAY to SATURDAY. Doesn't make sense for anyone involved. How do you make it more exciting and improve attendance all in one swoop? Allow me to present two solutions:
Solution 1: Shorten the Field
I like this one best. The days where every single school gets a chance are over. While that may sound cutesy and noble in theory, it just doesn't work in practice -- because of the expanded conference now.
Here's what you'd do. Regardless of whether the ACC stays at 15 or adds a 16th, you trim the field to 12 or 8. If you cut it to 12, you give 1-4 buys and you make it a 4-day tournament (Thurs - Sun or Wed - Sat). Not ideal, IMO, but 4 days is still better than the 5 it's at now. If you cut it to 8 teams, you make it a 3-day tournament (which is the best bet in my opinion). This would create the best matchups on Thursday and/or Friday nights, and the thing is over and done with quicker -- making it easier for people to attend. PLUS, fans from schools 13-15/16 don't have to worry about showing up (not that they would anyway).
Solution 2: Multiple Sites
I think this could also generate some buzz (albeit more from a TV standpoint) in sorta the same way that professional soccer tournaments create buzz. In pro soccer tournaments, they play matches concurrently or at least overlapping so that multiple games are going on at once. Sorta creates an adrenaline rush.
The main problem with having all 15/16 teams compete (with no byes) is that it takes too long and you can't play all games in one day. Well.... In this plan, you'd have your "main stage" (a la tennis) which would be the Greensboro Coliseum, or the Barclays Center, or wherever. You play the bigger games there. Meanwhile, you have a secondary sight that's still within fairly easy driving distance, that you play your lesser games at in the early rounds. If the tourney is in Greensboro, play some games in Winston-Salem or Chapel Hill, for example.
This would still keep your tournament at 4 days long (again, 4 days is the max you can do IMO). On Day 1: there's 7 or 8 games (1 v 16, 2 v 15, 3 v 14, etc etc). You play 3 or 4 games at Site A, and the other 3-4 games at Site B. Boom. Now you're on to Day 2 and you're down to an 8-team tournament, which of course can be played in 3 days. Once you get down to 8 teams, you only play at Site A from there on out. You only use Site B to fit in the necessary games on Day 1.
Thoughts? Other ideas?
This post was edited on 3/11 3:13 PM by TarHeelNation11
This post was edited on 3/11 4:06 PM by TarHeelNation11
How would y'all fix the ACC Tournament? It's too darn long. In today's modern sports where attendance is down virtually everywhere in every sport, the big conferences are swimming against a very powerful stream by adding games, but more importantly, by adding days to the tournament length. Obviously, adding days was a necessity because of the expanded conference. It just is not feasible or practical for ACC school fans to attend an event that goes from TUESDAY to SATURDAY. Doesn't make sense for anyone involved. How do you make it more exciting and improve attendance all in one swoop? Allow me to present two solutions:
Solution 1: Shorten the Field
I like this one best. The days where every single school gets a chance are over. While that may sound cutesy and noble in theory, it just doesn't work in practice -- because of the expanded conference now.
Here's what you'd do. Regardless of whether the ACC stays at 15 or adds a 16th, you trim the field to 12 or 8. If you cut it to 12, you give 1-4 buys and you make it a 4-day tournament (Thurs - Sun or Wed - Sat). Not ideal, IMO, but 4 days is still better than the 5 it's at now. If you cut it to 8 teams, you make it a 3-day tournament (which is the best bet in my opinion). This would create the best matchups on Thursday and/or Friday nights, and the thing is over and done with quicker -- making it easier for people to attend. PLUS, fans from schools 13-15/16 don't have to worry about showing up (not that they would anyway).
Solution 2: Multiple Sites
I think this could also generate some buzz (albeit more from a TV standpoint) in sorta the same way that professional soccer tournaments create buzz. In pro soccer tournaments, they play matches concurrently or at least overlapping so that multiple games are going on at once. Sorta creates an adrenaline rush.
The main problem with having all 15/16 teams compete (with no byes) is that it takes too long and you can't play all games in one day. Well.... In this plan, you'd have your "main stage" (a la tennis) which would be the Greensboro Coliseum, or the Barclays Center, or wherever. You play the bigger games there. Meanwhile, you have a secondary sight that's still within fairly easy driving distance, that you play your lesser games at in the early rounds. If the tourney is in Greensboro, play some games in Winston-Salem or Chapel Hill, for example.
This would still keep your tournament at 4 days long (again, 4 days is the max you can do IMO). On Day 1: there's 7 or 8 games (1 v 16, 2 v 15, 3 v 14, etc etc). You play 3 or 4 games at Site A, and the other 3-4 games at Site B. Boom. Now you're on to Day 2 and you're down to an 8-team tournament, which of course can be played in 3 days. Once you get down to 8 teams, you only play at Site A from there on out. You only use Site B to fit in the necessary games on Day 1.
Thoughts? Other ideas?
This post was edited on 3/11 3:13 PM by TarHeelNation11
This post was edited on 3/11 4:06 PM by TarHeelNation11
