Well duuhhh, of course it was. I'm so sick of people saying that Tulsa did a terrible job of hosting the event and that it will never come back. These people do not realize that Tulsa wasn't the only city without a sellout crowd. NCAA tickets are expensive, and their sales were down all across the board. And with that said, Tulsa still sold a bunch of tickets, ending up about mid range compared to other cities.
So what do you think? Was the NCAA tournament a success?
I also think that most Tulsans were still in shock. Plenty of people were thinking "you mean that thing, is HERE?"
I want to go to a future event. I predict NCAA Tulsa 2014
Of course it was.....Would it have been more of one with OU TU ORU or osu in the mix...Yes....
Yes. Attendance was more than the first rounds in OKC last year (by a slim margin). I also think that the "Thunder" has stole some of the state's college hoops thunder, so to say. I think in years past, that OKC was able to draw ticket sales from Tulsa for their NCAA events. However, I have an inking that Tulsa didn't pull very many from OKC. This is due to the fact they now have an NBA presence and there was no desire to drive down to turnpike to see a non-Oklahoma based college bb team. I really think this thing would have sold out if OU, OSU, TU or even ORU would have been in the mix. Just poor timing for Tulsa.
And again, please don't confuse me with a "new" poster with a similar name....
QuoteAnd again, please don't confuse me with a "new" poster with a similar name....
Yeah, someone's not too creative.......
Quote from: ttownclown on March 21, 2011, 09:06:01 PM
And again, please don't confuse me with a "new" poster with a similar name....
Dude, I had no idea. Seriously! Did you play in the old Negro Minor Leagues?
So, you are now the second poster to complain about TNF messin' with your moniker. The other one was that evil doosche, AOX!
Do any of the first round sites ever sell out? Tulsa I think did quite well drawing KU, UT, and UM.
I hadn't heard of anyone calling it a bust other than some unnamed references in the news to some Brady District business people who were complaining not only did they not get their share of NCAA business, but their regulars stayed away. Curious who some of these were.
Just guessing, but I assume those business owners didn't bother to buy advertising in any co-op ads with other merchants or official event literature or guides. They figured they'd get free fall-off. Just like the morons on south Lewis when the PGA and US Open came to Southern Hills. You gotta pay to play or have a great location.
Along those lines, there really is no logical connector from the Brady to the arena by foot. It can be a little sketchy to a visitor from out of town. Anyone know if there were shuttles from the Main & Brady/Cameron areas?
There was such a shuttle from the Brady.
Just wait until Boulder gets fixed.
I watched the shuttle drive into Brady several times Sunday.
A couple of good articles from the TW;
Tulsa likely to bring in more tournaments. (http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/article.aspx?subjectid=494&articleid=20110322_203_B1_TLAIIE635546&allcom=1)
and
Turnout for NCAA games falls short. (http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/article.aspx?subjectid=494&articleid=20110322_234_B1_ULNSus965795)
(http://www.tulsaworld.com/articleimages/2011/20110322_B1_B1ncaaattendance0322.jpg)
From the hospitality standpoint, this was nothing but win. Lots of high dollar revenue made it to town, and it was spread throughout the city, rather than just concentrated downtown. Also, Klein is right. Aside from the one-time boost to the economy that this represented, it's a HUGE proving ground within the sporting event community. If you can put this feather in your cap -- almost regardless of how much actual revenue you generated -- it definitely allows you to book more, and more varied events in the future.
I work pretty closely with the TSC, and they have some serious irons in the fire. The things they can bring in might be less high profile but they have some real opportunity to generate lasting business.
Tulsa World's drama queen piece on low attendance made me roll my eyes and close the paper. Gee, Cincinatti had higher attendance. Of course they had Ohio State playing there, which is a good choice to win the tournament and within a short drive from the arena. Oklahoma had 0 of 4 teams in the tournament this year.
They also didn't compare against past years, etc. Not to mention, some places have tournaments every year or nearly every year. We had 3rd highest sell-out percentage in a town where people don't plan "in March I'm going to plan a trip to X to see the NCAA tournament"
Random thoughts:
Grizz, I didn't read the World story as being so much negative but rather what we could do better next time. I suspect we will get more prelim dates. Tulsa is a great sports town and if we get one of the five area schools in (including ORU and Arkansas) on a future date, we could get closer to a sell-out.
I know there's a very strong KU alumni presence in Tulsa as well as Lawrence and Kansas City (another city with quite a few alums) being within a four hour drive. What was attendance like for their games?
I also understand Memphis fans bought a lot of tickets, but Texas fans bought fewer than expected. How many could one really expect to see from Boston or Oakland, Michigan?
One of my friends was going to go with another friend who bought the weekend package until he figured out he could get better seats by calling Boston U's athletic department and buying some single session tix.
Looking at the MSA sizes of the other tournament sites, I really don't see how anyone can point to this as a FAIL. They have to know Tulsa won't sell as many tickets as Dallas, Houston, or KC in this area.
I wonder if having it during spring-break had a positive or negative impact......
Quote from: Breadburner on March 22, 2011, 09:16:13 AM
I wonder if having it during spring-break had a positive or negative impact......
I was wondering about the St. Paddy's weekend possibly being a deterrent to people going downtown. It's never a help when the media starts telling people they probably should not to drive to lunch if they don't want to lose their parking space. Some people will avoid parking and traffic mayhem so that easily could have cost them sales if the media was playing that angle up a bit much. I didn't go anywhere near downtown late last week, even passed on St. Paddy's events.
Quote from: Breadburner on March 22, 2011, 09:16:13 AM
I wonder if having it during spring-break had a positive or negative impact......
This was always going to negatively impact local attendance. Folks at TU and TSC have always known this was going to be a scheduling challenge. Kinda hard to change either the TPS schedule or the NCAA schedule, though.
QuoteAlthough some fans complained about the lack of things to do around the arena, players said that meant fewer distractions.
"I can just sit in my hotel, lay back and not really speak to anybody," Arizona guard Lamont Jones said. "Nobody knows about Tulsa, so I can say my phone doesn't have any service and it doesn't work."
Haha. And yeah, I heard there were some complaints about the lack of a sports bar or someplace with a lot of TVs downtown.
Quote from: Conan71 on March 22, 2011, 09:11:03 AM
I also understand Memphis fans bought a lot of tickets, but Texas fans bought fewer than expected. How many could one really expect to see from Boston or Oakland, Michigan?
I'm pretty sure Memphis fans hate Tulsa. We stole their conference tournament and they keep losing here.
Quote from: sgrizzle on March 22, 2011, 10:23:14 AM
I'm pretty sure Memphis fans hate Tulsa. We stole their conference tournament and they keep losing here.
I guess we will find out just how bad they still hate us after they tally up the ticket purchases by zip code.
Quote from: Nik on March 22, 2011, 10:21:21 AM
Haha. And yeah, I heard there were some complaints about the lack of a sports bar or someplace with a lot of TVs downtown.
....and then they git into a bar that is only selling 3.2 beer...
"What, are these people Puritans?"
Memphis fans were easily the 2nd largest contingency here on Friday (behind Kansas). Texas fans don't seem to travel well to support basketball - I've heard they never have a big presence at the Big XII Tournament). Had Memphis beat Arizona, I think Sunday would have been a near sell out.
Illinois ans were 3rd, with Arizona showing a weak 4th and UNLV in 5th. Oakland, for the school's size and distance, had a good showing of students who were energetic (and stood the whole game - ugh!).
Given the weak condition of basketball this year by all Oklahoma teams, I think local interest was generally down. Tulsa got about as good of a draw of teams as we could given who was in the tournament - getting Kansas St. here would have been a big boost.
Until the Boulder bridge is completed, events at the BOK Center will have limited benefit to the Brady District.
Not sure how anyone can complain about a lack of a sports bar downtown given the giant teant with huge tvs, beer, booze and food located directly across the street from the arena. Another Elliot Nelson homerun.
Overall, I think the NCAA was a qualified success for Tulsa. The event ran smoothly and Tulsa performed well as a host city. Attendance was not what it could have been, but I'm not sure Tulsa officials could have done much more on that front given the high prices, state of the economy and teams playing here.
Quote from: patric on March 22, 2011, 11:03:31 AM
....and then they git into a bar that is only selling 3.2 beer...
"What, are these people Puritans?"
You might be blaming the wrong group. One of the reasons the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock is that they were either low or out of beer on the boat.
Was it a success? Absolutely. I think for Tulsa's first swing at hosting a large multi-hour/multi-day event, was excellent (most concerts or other shows are only 2-4 hours, Friday was basically 11-10). Sure the concession lines may have been a little long, but they burned through them pretty quickly. The restroom issues were pretty much resolved on Sunday.
As for downtown as a whole, I think it was tremendous support. You did hear alot of business owners complaining about how they didn't get the amount of business they thought they would. I am not sure what they expected, but since the event is "technically" a no re-entry event, you are not going to get alot of business while the games are going on. A sports bar would have probably done some tremendous business for the afterhours with people trying to catch the games still being played and enjoying a beverage.
Elliot Nelson and the other vendors who brought their business to the event were SMART. They are the businessmen who know how to make something work for them rather than waiting for something to come to you.
Our capacity percentage was comparable with the other venues. Regardless of what venue BYU played at, they would have drawn huge numbers. Cleveland had the benefit of having OSU. Chicago had both ND and Purdue.
When you look at it, while we had some great teams, the travel distance of our top four teams were over 250 miles away and they still traveled pretty well. Texas was completely disappointing. Also, if Tulsa and ORU had made the tourney, I don't believe they could have played at the tulsa regional... I could be wrong, but I believe that is the case.
Quote from: JCnOwasso on March 22, 2011, 12:17:25 PM
Was it a success? Absolutely. I think for Tulsa's first swing at hosting a large multi-hour/multi-day event, was excellent (most concerts or other shows are only 2-4 hours, Friday was basically 11-10). Sure the concession lines may have been a little long, but they burned through them pretty quickly. The restroom issues were pretty much resolved on Sunday.
As for downtown as a whole, I think it was tremendous support. You did hear alot of business owners complaining about how they didn't get the amount of business they thought they would. I am not sure what they expected, but since the event is "technically" a no re-entry event, you are not going to get alot of business while the games are going on. A sports bar would have probably done some tremendous business for the afterhours with people trying to catch the games still being played and enjoying a beverage.
Elliot Nelson and the other vendors who brought their business to the event were SMART. They are the businessmen who know how to make something work for them rather than waiting for something to come to you.
Our capacity percentage was comparable with the other venues. Regardless of what venue BYU played at, they would have drawn huge numbers. Cleveland had the benefit of having OSU. Chicago had both ND and Purdue.
When you look at it, while we had some great teams, the travel distance of our top four teams were over 250 miles away and they still traveled pretty well. Texas was completely disappointing. Also, if Tulsa and ORU had made the tourney, I don't believe they could have played at the tulsa regional... I could be wrong, but I believe that is the case.
ORU could have because technically they weren't the host school. TU was.
Tulsa did fine on attendance. Tickets are very high anymore and Tulsa was one of four sites with no nearby team located in the bracket. KU was the closest to us at more than 200 miles away. Tulsa was also hurt by no state teams even being in the tournament and by the fact that UT people don't give a crap about basketball.
Tampa had Florida
Cleveland had Ohio State and Xavier (from Cincy)
Charlotte had UNC and Duke
Chicago had Notre Dame and Purdue
In some ways, getting more local teams is gonna be difficult. There was a TW story a few weeks ago talking to a bracketologist who said the selection committee wouldn't place ORU in Tulsa (if they'd won their conference tournament) because it would put the higher seeded team at a disadvantage.
They're never gonna put the top four seeds at a crowd disadvantage. So there's basically zero chance of ORU ever playing here. The seed ceiling for a team from the Summit League is probably 11 or 12.
TU would have to go nearly undefeated to get a top-four seed. Even looking at their really good seasons a few years back, their seed would be worse now than it was then, given the fact they're skewing the process more toward BCS schools.
If OSU would've won a few more games down the stretch and made it, they would've gotten too low a seed to get sent here.
Basically our only hope for more local teams are that OU or OSU become nationally dominant enough to get a top four seed.