2011 Final Four

[HopeConvert]

I have only been to Salem once, and when I went I never investigated Roanoke, so I am willing to recant my earlier judgment about places to dine and sleep. Clearly I made the judgment without sufficient information and have since been appropriately corrected. And I did like Mac N Bob's, and the people in the area were very friendly.

That said, I stand by my judgments concerning the Civic Center itself and Salem's inaccessibility. Bob, I'm curious as to why you say you don't have any solutions for the centrality and accessibility issue and why we have to just suck it up and accept Salem. It seems to me that Calvin is a perfect solution. It's centrally located, big enough to hold any number of fans who would want to come, but intimate enough for a smaller crowd, very near a large airport, has a fan base that would show up even if local teams weren't in the game (I know I would go no matter who was playing), has excellent facilities, has a large number of hotels and restaurants within a 5 minute drive - I just don't see the downside. I'm not saying it's the only place possible, but it's hard for me to imagine a better one and I can't see why posters on this board aren't jumping at it.

If you're worried about Calvin potentially having a homecourt advantage, no need to worry as I don't see them representing the MIAA any time soon.  

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Michigan might be closer to the largest number of teams, but we're only talking about four teams here.

Generally, the brackets get split up with two coming from the area between Virginia and Maine and the other two coming from the rest of the country.  Obviously this is an over generalization, but for the sake of the argument, moving further west inconveniences half the field.

[dahlby]

And God forbid that we ever do anything to inconvenience the east teams!

[ChicagoHopeNut]

Michigan might be closer to the largest number of teams, but we're only talking about four teams here.

Generally, the brackets get split up with two coming from the area between Virginia and Maine and the other two coming from the rest of the country.  Obviously this is an over generalization, but for the sake of the argument, moving further west inconveniences half the field.

I would argue anyone who isn't within 3-4 hours driving time that has to travel to Salem on short notice is already inconvenienced.  This would include most of the teams from VA through Maine. It's just not an easy place to get to.

[BUBeaverFan]

After the run at Salem how about the newly renovated Battelle Grand in Columbus, OH.  Close to the arena district, lots of hotel space a new hotel coming 2012 and formerly hosted the NCAA DI Mid American Conference conference tournament.  More intimate than St. John's.  Cool looking building (not real important, I know). Good airport access, Ohio Athletic Conference as a host conference. Great college sports town.  

[Mr. Ypsi]

After the run at Salem how about the newly renovated Battelle Grand in Columbus, OH.  Close to the arena district, lots of hotel space a new hotel coming 2012 and formerly hosted the NCAA DI Mid American Conference conference tournament.  More intimate than St. John's.  Cool looking building (not real important, I know). Good airport access, Ohio Athletic Conference as a host conference. Great college sports town.  

Have you seen the attendance figures for Cap or Ott, or seen their coverage in the Columbus paper?  It is an Ohio State town (if that even counts as college sports)!

[sac]

Perhaps. I think a venue of 6,000 seats more centrally located would have a shot at filling those seats. I've long considered the epicenter of Division III to be somewhere around Columbus, Ohio.

How about St. John arena on the campus of Ohio State?  There would be no scheduling conflict with hoops as the men's and women's teams now play at Value City Arena.  St. John Arena is now home to men's and women's volleyball, men's and women's gymnastics and men's wrestling at OSU.

St. John Arena

St. John Arena - Wikipedia

13,000 seats?  The event would be swallowed!

Gotta go thumbs down on that one. 

13,000 seats crammed into an area that should hold about 8,000.  It was a great place to watch a game in its day,

and yes its too big for D3.

[Mr. Ypsi]

And as for Columbus, see the above post.

[kiltedbryan]

Perhaps. I think a venue of 6,000 seats more centrally located would have a shot at filling those seats. I've long considered the epicenter of Division III to be somewhere around Columbus, Ohio.

How about St. John arena on the campus of Ohio State?  There would be no scheduling conflict with hoops as the men's and women's teams now play at Value City Arena.  St. John Arena is now home to men's and women's volleyball, men's and women's gymnastics and men's wrestling at OSU.

St. John Arena

St. John Arena - Wikipedia

13,000 seats?  The event would be swallowed!

Gotta go thumbs down on that one. 

13,000 seats crammed into an area that should hold about 8,000.  It was a great place to watch a game in its day,

and yes its too big for D3.

Also too big for D3 (but definitely my favorite Columbus arena) is Nationwide Arena, home of the Columbus Bluejackets.  You can see pictures of what it looks like in a basketball configuration from that link.  I think it'd be about the right size for the mythical final four of Hope, Calvin, Wooster and Illinois Wesleyan; all other years it'd be a bit large.   

[John Gleich]

Perhaps. I think a venue of 6,000 seats more centrally located would have a shot at filling those seats. I've long considered the epicenter of Division III to be somewhere around Columbus, Ohio.

How about St. John arena on the campus of Ohio State?  There would be no scheduling conflict with hoops as the men's and women's teams now play at Value City Arena.  St. John Arena is now home to men's and women's volleyball, men's and women's gymnastics and men's wrestling at OSU.

St. John Arena

St. John Arena - Wikipedia

13,000 seats?  The event would be swallowed!

Gotta go thumbs down on that one. 

13,000 seats crammed into an area that should hold about 8,000.  It was a great place to watch a game in its day,

and yes its too big for D3.

Also too big for D3 (but definitely my favorite Columbus arena) is Nationwide Arena, home of the Columbus Bluejackets.  You can see pictures of what it looks like in a basketball configuration from that link.  I think it'd be about the right size for the mythical final four of Hope, Calvin, Wooster and Illinois Wesleyan; all other years it'd be a bit large.   

Even that would be too big for Hope/Calvin/Woo/IWU... though those 4 would all bring lots of fans, most are only going to stay for their game, so you likely won't get more than, say, 6000 for each game.  The basketball config seats 19,500

[AO]

Perhaps. I think a venue of 6,000 seats more centrally located would have a shot at filling those seats. I've long considered the epicenter of Division III to be somewhere around Columbus, Ohio.

How about St. John arena on the campus of Ohio State?  There would be no scheduling conflict with hoops as the men's and women's teams now play at Value City Arena.  St. John Arena is now home to men's and women's volleyball, men's and women's gymnastics and men's wrestling at OSU.

St. John Arena

St. John Arena - Wikipedia

13,000 seats?  The event would be swallowed!

Gotta go thumbs down on that one. 

13,000 seats crammed into an area that should hold about 8,000.  It was a great place to watch a game in its day,

and yes its too big for D3.

Also too big for D3 (but definitely my favorite Columbus arena) is Nationwide Arena, home of the Columbus Bluejackets.  You can see pictures of what it looks like in a basketball configuration from that link.  I think it'd be about the right size for the mythical final four of Hope, Calvin, Wooster and Illinois Wesleyan; all other years it'd be a bit large.   

Even that would be too big for Hope/Calvin/Woo/IWU... though those 4 would all bring lots of fans, most are only going to stay for their game, so you likely won't get more than, say, 6000 for each game.  The basketball config seats 19,500

As someone who has played a game in a 20000 seat arena with only 6000 in attendance, I can tell you that it's still plenty fun and plenty loud.  Anything above 2000 can get loud no matter which building you put them in.  There might be 15000 empty seats, but the fans that are there are closer to the action than they would be in the salem civic center.

[kiltedbryan]

Well, it's obviously oversized, but it's a great arena and would definitely feel "big-time" for D3 players and fans who attend.  Obviously, if it were held in a venue as large as Nationwide Arena, you'd only need to use the lower bowl of seating...and from the images and my personal recollections of both being to Salem twice and being in Nationwide (never for basketball, though), it seems like those lower bowl seats would be at least as intimate as the seats at Salem.  And seating location and options are Salem would really be my only gripe against the place—otherwise I've enjoyed both of my trips there.*

(*well, at least as much as I can for my rooting interest's 1-3 Salem record)   

My guess is that the real limitation against using an arena like Nationwide is the rental/usage cost.  (I assume DIII pays for the ability to use its championship venue?)

[ScotsFan]

After the run at Salem how about the newly renovated Battelle Grand in Columbus, OH.  Close to the arena district, lots of hotel space a new hotel coming 2012 and formerly hosted the NCAA DI Mid American Conference conference tournament.  More intimate than St. John's.  Cool looking building (not real important, I know). Good airport access, Ohio Athletic Conference as a host conference. Great college sports town.  

Have you seen the attendance figures for Cap or Ott, or seen their coverage in the Columbus paper?  It is an Ohio State town (if that even counts as college sports)!

This is an understatement to say the least. 

I just remember last year for Wooster's NCAA Tournament game at Cap and there may very well have been more Wooster fans in attendance than Cap fans!  And that was with no Wooster students making the trip as they were on spring break and if it wasn't for the fact that Cap students weren't on spring break, there definitely would have been about a 2-1 ratio of Wooster fans to Cap fans. 

I can understand your fanbase maybe not coming out in force for regular season games, but to be outdrawn by fans of a school 90 minutes away for an NCAA Tournament game is pretty pathetic if you ask me...

[BUBeaverFan]

Wooster has fan support that many DIII programs can only dream about.  Imagine how many Wooster fans would come to a final four game in Columbus.  Heck, I live in a town with a DIII school, with another about 12 miles away.  The paper that serves the area doesn't do either of those programs justice and they are almost the only shows in town.  There is one NAIA II school and one ORCC school who also don't merit much coverage.  High school sports are the name of the game for local media.  The Dispatch would cover a DIII Final Four very well, regardless of how they cover Cap, Ott, OWU,  or NAIA/NCAA II ODU, etc.  during the season. 

[ScotsFan]

Wooster has fan support that many DIII programs can only dream about.  Imagine how many Wooster fans would come to a final four game in Columbus.  Heck, I live in a town with a DIII school, with another about 12 miles away.  The paper that serves the area doesn't do either of those programs justice and they are almost the only shows in town.  There is one NAIA II school and one ORCC school who also don't merit much coverage.  High school sports are the name of the game for local media.  The Dispatch would cover a DIII Final Four very well, regardless of how they cover Cap, Ott, OWU,  or NAIA/NCAA II ODU, etc.  during the season. 

Wooster's local paper isn't on my must read list everyday, but I will say this.  They do a fairly good job of covering the COW and it's not just limited to football, basketball and baseball.  Although, those 3 sports get the majority of coverage, they also give coverage to minor sports as well.  I'm sure this factors in Wooster's large and loyal local fanbase.  That and owning the best win percentage in ALL of college basketball in the 2000's doesn't hurt either.   

Now, if only the Scots could add one of those nice walnut and bronze trophies to their trophy case...