Region home court in first round

[Macnarry]

I think the decision to play the first round of the region tournament at the homecourt of the top two teams is a bad idea. The region should be decided on a neutral floor, although obviously sometimes a host team will get to play at home.

 

The TSSAA knows they will make more money because they play at four sites instead of just one site. They can always find a way to make themselves more money.

 

The only postive is some of the regions are so spread out, the lack of travel for some teams is helpful.

[muffin]

They deserved to play on their home floor,they earned it.

[baseballbigb]

QUOTE(Macnarry @ Feb 24 2007 - 02:00 PM) 826387293[/snapback]I think the decision to play the first round of the region tournament at the homecourt of the top two teams is a bad idea. The region should be decided on a neutral floor, although obviously sometimes a host team will get to play at home.

 

The TSSAA knows they will make more money because they play at four sites instead of just one site. They can always find a way to make themselves more money.

 

The only postive is some of the regions are so spread out, the lack of travel for some teams is helpful.

 

 

 

 

I agree it is probably for a better gate but on the other hand it makes the region one day shorter with the two games on school day rule. At Red Boiling Springs last night there was a good home crowd but the visitors were lucky if they had 75. Change is hard but only time will tell if it is good.

[Indian Chief]

The home court is a reward for making it to the district championship game. Some regions have to travel an hour and 15 minutes or so to get to the region site. It was great to see the gym full of Sequatchie fans last night. They almost filled both home and visitor side, and Sequatchie's gym is pretty big. It gives the home town folks one more chance to see their teams play.

[Indian]

It did help more people get to the first region game for Sequatchie. If the openers had been as usual, Sequatchie and Sweetwater would have played at 3 Central in Cleveland. That would have limited fans attending from Sequatchie to parents taking off work early and maybe a few brothers and sisters. No teachers, other coaches could have went because they'd have been in class. Letting students out early to go to the game sounds nice, but how many wouldn't go, bringing back ticket stubs would be more trouble than it would be worth, and this way no time in class is missed. With a 6:30 Central start in Sequatchie, it gave Sweetwater (the #4) time to get to the game, while a 3:00 start in Cleveland would have made it hard for some from there to see it even though they're not too far away. It also gives more incentive to finish first or second in a district.

[TynerRamFan]

QUOTE(Macnarry @ Feb 24 2007 - 03:00 PM) 826387293[/snapback]I think the decision to play the first round of the region tournament at the homecourt of the top two teams is a bad idea. The region should be decided on a neutral floor, although obviously sometimes a host team will get to play at home.

The TSSAA knows they will make more money because they play at four sites instead of just one site. They can always find a way to make themselves more money.

 

The only postive is some of the regions are so spread out, the lack of travel for some teams is helpful.

 

 

...Good points...I tend to lean towards having all the games on a neutral floor...the teams we have in 5AA travel to Cleveland State each year for the District and every other year the Region is at Cleveland State also...in 6AA the District & Region is rotated every year giving some of the teams an advantage when it it their time to host...to play on your 'Home-Court' is an advantage but if the team that you support is good it will not matter where you play!!!

[Galilee]

For the Memphis teams it is a BAD idea for the girls games. The crowds were very poor at most places. Those schools went in the hole with the game. If the boys are not playing you will have a small crowd.

[hedgehog]

QUOTE(Galilee @ Feb 24 2007 - 03:57 PM) 826387394[/snapback]For the Memphis teams it is a BAD idea for the girls games. The crowds were very poor at most places. Those schools went in the hole with the game. If the boys are not playing you will have a small crowd.

 

 

 

And I say that is an indictment of the Memphis fans and Memphis area schools. In many of these schools, their girls programs out perform their boys programs year in and year out, and no effort appears to be made to publicize or otherwise support their girls programs. They seem to view them as "the opening" act for their boys teams, no matter how great their girls are doing, and how poorly their boys' team season goes.

[MarkH]

Bad idea. All you have to do is look at the NCAA tournament. Neutral sites-no home floors. You have to win to be able to advance. Conference tournaments are rotated around just like district tournament are now. In a district tournament, one team gets home court advantage once every 6 or 7 years depending on the number of teams in the district. That's fair.

 

Regions should be the same way. Central locations, minimum seating capacity and neutral floors. The only way a team could have home court advantage in region play is if they earn it by winning in the district tournament and that's only if the region tournament is held on their home court.

 

I believe that sub-state...sectionals...whatever you want to call it should be played on a neutral court as well. Why should the most important game of the year-the one which determines if you advance to the state championships-be played on a home court? Don't tell me that it's because teams earned it. If you win, you advance. Do teams that advance to the sweet 16 or elite 8 in the NCAA tournament get to play on a home court because they earned it? No. You play on a neutral court to see who the best team is without factoring in home court advantage.

 

There are plenty of neutral sites that can be used throughout the state for sectionals. I am sure that any one of the colleges in the area would love to have a number of prospective student athletes seeing what it would be like to play on their campus.

 

You could group schools and classifications together at sites that could accomodate them. I know that they did this in Memphis at the Mid South Coliseum a couple of years ago and it was fantastic. 2 AA games and 2 AAA games at the same location?

You draw fans from all of the schools and then you get the basketball fan who just wants to see some good games.

[catchpc10]

Bad idea, but then again I'm a traditionalist, and I don't like change. I also didn't like playing district 7a tournament at la either. I like traveling to a neutral location, taking all night to make a long drive, but then again getting to host a ball game means when I came home this weekend from tennessee tech, I didn't have to head out early to go back to watertown, so thats nice...but I'm sure I wouldn't have liked it if I was clarkrange last night, having to travel forever to get to westmoreland. So I think it doesn't cause a problem for some schools, but it makes it tough on others. Bad Idea, just like stretching out tournaments to make more money is.

[Hoganknows]

Bad Idea

[PTSportsWriter]

Bad idea, at least from a media standpoint.

 

With different times, you can better plan your coverage (maybe hit 1 game at 4 and another elsewhere at 7), especially in smaller media outlets. I know of a buddy who had 3 teams in his county playing 3 games in 3 different counties. And he's the entire sports department at his newspaper.

 

Its not good for radio outlets either.

1) Many stations cover two games, which forces the station to make a decision on who to air, or if they will tape delay one game. With the old format, the chances were unlikely (25%) that one station could have 2 games at one time.

2) Many stations use phone lines, for better quality of audio, to broadcast. With semifinals of the two districts in a region at times not being determined in some cases, until 3 days before the regional quarterfinals, its impossible to have phone lines installed for the game.