Region Tournaments Should be Held on Neutral Courts

[bobcatfan#1]

This is a message that I sent to TSSAA:

I am concerned about schools having a huge home court advantage in basketball for region games. 

I understand your connection with East Robertson, but that should not be a factor in this.

East Robertson hosts the region every other year. That doesn't help the E.R. girls' team, but it certainly gives the boys a huge advantage. 

With Greenbriar, Springfield and White House Heritage nearby, any of those schools should hold the region so that the region tournament gives no school a huge advantage. Or, there must be other schools available east of East Robertson which would cut down on District 7 schools' travel.

Cross Plains is a 2 hour drive from Clarkrange for example.

I hope that TSSAA will correct this huge unfair advantage that East Robertson and other schools have had. Monterey also hosted the region last year. I am sure there are other schools doing the same thing.

7A never allows a member school to host. Our teams have played at Jackson County, White County and Livingston.

 

 

 

[tennesseeannouncer]

Being a coordinator of a region hosting site I can’t imagine that any school would want the burden of hosting a group they are not affiliated with.

In regards to the schools you speak of that are not being given the opportunity to host, are you certain that they have been asked? I’ve seen many schools refuse to host because of the amount of work it takes. In addition, do the schools you speak of have adequate seating and parking? I’m all about equal opportunities but there are simply some campuses that have no business hosting regions.

[HCHSladyPats]

5 hours ago, tennesseeannouncer said:

Being a coordinator of a region hosting site I can’t imagine that any school would want the burden of hosting a group they are not affiliated with.

In regards to the schools you speak of that are not being given the opportunity to host, are you certain that they have been asked? I’ve seen many schools refuse to host because of the amount of work it takes. In addition, do the schools you speak of have adequate seating and parking? I’m all about equal opportunities but there are simply some campuses that have no business hosting regions.

back about 2003 Henry county hosted the region tournament and the wilson county schools complained about travel, since, we have not been an option to host.   at one point  we had 9 district schools

Clarksville high, Rossview and maybe Norhteast were the only teams that could host the region,  tssaa said close proximity to interstates, however, Dickson was not allowed to host and for heavens sake not springfield or Henry county,   So now Henry county  has to travel that far every year.     tssaa said we didnt make enough money and we needed to have in a more metropolitan area,    pitiful,  I would be for a neutral site.      

[TribalEmpire]

A trusted media source told me that region tournament sites are determined by:

1. Site has to be within a so-and-so drive time of all schools within the region. (can't remember the exact time length)
2. Gym has to be able to hold expected number of fans.

That's why in Region 1-4A, the region tournament is held at either Daniel Boone, Dobyns-Bennett, Morristown East or Jefferson County.  This year it's at Morristown East.

Boone and D-B are just inside that driving range for District 2 schools, West Ridge and Science Hill are just outside of it.

Jeff County and East are inside that driving range for District 1 schools, Sevier County isn't and Morristown West gym is too small.

[tennesseeannouncer]

1 hour ago, TribalEmpire said:

A trusted media source told me that region tournament sites are determined by:

1. Site has to be within a so-and-so drive time of all schools within the region. (can't remember the exact time length)
2. Gym has to be able to hold expected number of fans.

That's why in Region 1-4A, the region tournament is held at either Daniel Boone, Dobyns-Bennett, Morristown East or Jefferson County.  This year it's at Morristown East.

Boone and D-B are just inside that driving range for District 2 schools, West Ridge and Science Hill are just outside of it.

Jeff County and East are inside that driving range for District 1 schools, Sevier County isn't and Morristown West gym is too small.

In Region 7AAA we were told that the tournaments would be held in Fayette Ware. District 13 and 14 alternate the hosting responsibilities. Traditionally the region tournament is held at the district tournament site just as a matter of convenience. However, I'm hearing a rumor that the Region will not be played at Somerville as the distance between Fayette Ware and a potential region participant is roughly an hour and forty minute drive. 

Of course the caveat with this conversation is that there are districts for a reason. When you combine teams from two districts there will obviously be some travel involved. 

[BallIsLife1]

On 1/9/2024 at 1:01 PM, tennesseeannouncer said:

Being a coordinator of a region hosting site I can’t imagine that any school would want the burden of hosting a group they are not affiliated with.

In regards to the schools you speak of that are not being given the opportunity to host, are you certain that they have been asked? I’ve seen many schools refuse to host because of the amount of work it takes. In addition, do the schools you speak of have adequate seating and parking? I’m all about equal opportunities but there are simply some campuses that have no business hosting regions.

Many speak on this subject not knowing all the criteria that has to be met for a school to host

[BallIsLife1]

On 1/10/2024 at 9:37 AM, tennesseeannouncer said:

In Region 7AAA we were told that the tournaments would be held in Fayette Ware. District 13 and 14 alternate the hosting responsibilities. Traditionally the region tournament is held at the district tournament site just as a matter of convenience. However, I'm hearing a rumor that the Region will not be played at Somerville as the distance between Fayette Ware and a potential region participant is roughly an hour and forty minute drive. 

Of course the caveat with this conversation is that there are districts for a reason. When you combine teams from two districts there will obviously be some travel involved. 

Just looking at the districts and regions on TSSAA website, this will be the case for more than a few regions. Travel will be 1-2 hours

[THE KING]

Region 1a will be at Cosby this year.  I'm not complaining 

[LadyCavsFan]

On 1/9/2024 at 6:23 PM, HCHSladyPats said:

back about 2003 Henry county hosted the region tournament and the wilson county schools complained about travel, since, we have not been an option to host.   at one point  we had 9 district schools

Clarksville high, Rossview and maybe Norhteast were the only teams that could host the region,  tssaa said close proximity to interstates, however, Dickson was not allowed to host and for heavens sake not springfield or Henry county,   So now Henry county  has to travel that far every year.     tssaa said we didnt make enough money and we needed to have in a more metropolitan area,    pitiful,  I would be for a neutral site.      

Hmmm Wilson County teams complaining about having to travel for Region tournament???  Where have I heard that before??  Ohhh maybe it was when Cookeville was supposed to host the Region last year!  

[Khall555]

On 1/9/2024 at 11:59 AM, bobcatfan#1 said:

This is a message that I sent to TSSAA:

I am concerned about schools having a huge home court advantage in basketball for region games. 

I understand your connection with East Robertson, but that should not be a factor in this.

East Robertson hosts the region every other year. That doesn't help the E.R. girls' team, but it certainly gives the boys a huge advantage. 

With Greenbriar, Springfield and White House Heritage nearby, any of those schools should hold the region so that the region tournament gives no school a huge advantage. Or, there must be other schools available east of East Robertson which would cut down on District 7 schools' travel.

Cross Plains is a 2 hour drive from Clarkrange for example.

I hope that TSSAA will correct this huge unfair advantage that East Robertson and other schools have had. Monterey also hosted the region last year. I am sure there are other schools doing the same thing.

7A never allows a member school to host. Our teams have played at Jackson County, White County and Livingston.

 

 

 

The biggest issue here is the other schools in that district are small and their gyms are insanely small. Basketball especially girls basketball is just not a big deal in that area. Best situation would be to play it at Macon Co or Westmoreland in more of a central location or have it flip back to district 7 when the 4 teams from that district blow out the district 8 teams in the first round. 

Edited January 20 by Khall555

[Expatriate]

I used to live in a state that used to have totally pre-assigned matchups for the first round of the basketball tournament AND pre-assigned sites for every game. The latter was intended to put every game on a neutral court, but it didn't work out that way.

That state had a strictly single-elimination tournament. A team had to win five games to get to State. That state's governing body worked around its neutral court issue in two ways:

1. Instituting a seeding system for the early rounds like Tennessee and a lot of other states. Higher seeds would get home court, but for no more than the first two rounds. After that it was all neutral courts.

2. Asking schools to sign up to be neutral site hosts, creating a pool of geographically-friend places for the governing body to assign games. Nearly every time, games would go to a school that was roughly the same distance from each competing team. It was a fan- and player-friendly move that cut down on travel time.

Schools had to volunteer to be neutral site hosts. Those with better facilities became regular fixtures on the tournament landscape, and I'm sure they made a little money on the deal. The host school would get a (small) cut of the ticket revenue and all of the money from concessions.

Such a system requires participation from just about every member school, and agility by the schools involved as competitors and/or host sites. The governing body would give potential host schools as much lead time as possible; they'd tell a school a week or more in advance that it could be the venue, so it could make the necessary arrangements.

It's a system that works pretty well.

[TribalEmpire]

16 hours ago, Expatriate said:

I used to live in a state that used to have totally pre-assigned matchups for the first round of the basketball tournament AND pre-assigned sites for every game. The latter was intended to put every game on a neutral court, but it didn't work out that way.

That state had a strictly single-elimination tournament. A team had to win five games to get to State. That state's governing body worked around its neutral court issue in two ways:

1. Instituting a seeding system for the early rounds like Tennessee and a lot of other states. Higher seeds would get home court, but for no more than the first two rounds. After that it was all neutral courts.

2. Asking schools to sign up to be neutral site hosts, creating a pool of geographically-friend places for the governing body to assign games. Nearly every time, games would go to a school that was roughly the same distance from each competing team. It was a fan- and player-friendly move that cut down on travel time.

Schools had to volunteer to be neutral site hosts. Those with better facilities became regular fixtures on the tournament landscape, and I'm sure they made a little money on the deal. The host school would get a (small) cut of the ticket revenue and all of the money from concessions.

Such a system requires participation from just about every member school, and agility by the schools involved as competitors and/or host sites. The governing body would give potential host schools as much lead time as possible; they'd tell a school a week or more in advance that it could be the venue, so it could make the necessary arrangements.

It's a system that works pretty well.

Sounds like Indiana?