Future Locations for AAC Conference Tournament: "What say you?"

[Kung Wu]

If we are going down this road then maybe East High or even Sunrise would suffice. Buff N Stuff has pretty good popcorn when the machine is working.

Rehab Henrion Hall?

[WuShock Reaper]

Great Odin's Ravens you 'all! Is there not anything east of the Turnpike?
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[SubGod22]

Of the above options, New Orleans would make the most sense. Plus, it's not like Tulane has many fans anyway.

They've tried Orlando when UCF was here and it sucked. Philly is a **** hole. Vegas is just out of the footprint and you'd be competing with the MWC and/or PAC. San Antonio probably doesn't suck, but you're also getting even further from the larger fan bases than DFW and I don't think it's much more of a draw.

Nashville would be nice, but if the SEC is there at the same time it wouldn't make much sense.

Just no home courts. That's all I ask. And not out on the east coast where schools don't have fans.

The more I think about it the more I like New Orleans. It's easy for the handful of Tulane fans to make it. It's within a reasonable drive, I think, for Wichita, Tulsa (no fans), Memphis, North Texas, Rice (no fans), UTSA (no fans), and UAB. And I'm assuming New Orleans is a fairly easy flight for most everyone.

[RoyalShock]

Agreed, like the venue but once you’ve been to Ft. Worth…that’s about it unless you head over to Arlington or Dallas. Not knocking Ft. Worth, there are worse places imo. Omaha comes to mind, everyone goes to the Zoo…cause that’s all there is to do during downtime, even though it’s a good Zoo. Ft. Worth’s arena is hard to beat.

My initial thought was Frisco. Everything is in Frisco nowadays. But not sure if that arena is already being used at that time. It also only seats 6k…which could be a little small. I like someplace where WSU fans can have a less than a days drive away.

Has any game at the AAC tournament in Ft. Worth been near 6k? Maybe an SMU game a couple years ago?

EDIT: They only released attendance numbers last year, apparently. And only for a handful of the games. Those handful were all in the 5-6k range (including WSU-Memphis and WSU-UAB). So it appears they didn't report attendance unless it was over 5k.

[ShockerFever]

Screw it, Memphis is an awesome place for the tournament.

Hell no.

[WuShock16]

Has any game at the AAC tournament in Ft. Worth been near 6k? Maybe an SMU game a couple years ago?

EDIT: They only released attendance numbers last year, apparently. And only for a handful of the games. Those handful were all in the 5-6k range (including WSU-Memphis and WSU-UAB). So it appears they didn't report attendance unless it was over 5k.

And that might have just been "paid numbers." Watching those games last year, it only seemed like several hundred were in the building.

[shockerfan]

Screw it, Memphis is an awesome place for the tournament.

Memphis and awesome place doesn't belong in a sentence together. Worse than Fort Worth IMHO

[shockerfan]

Agreed, like the venue but once you’ve been to Ft. Worth…that’s about it unless you head over to Arlington or Dallas. Not knocking Ft. Worth, there are worse places imo. Omaha comes to mind, everyone goes to the Zoo…cause that’s all there is to do during downtime, even though it’s a good Zoo. Ft. Worth’s arena is hard to beat.

My initial thought was Frisco. Everything is in Frisco nowadays. But not sure if that arena is already being used at that time. It also only seats 6k…which could be a little small. I like someplace where WSU fans can have a less than a days drive away.

Yep Frisco is what I had in mind. And I say go with it until we fill it.

[WuDrWu]

How about St Louis? Valley uses it the week before. Southwest Airlines Hub. Metro. Reasonable accommodations and options. Great food options. Decent arena. Only the 2 Fl schools and Philly are more than a 12 hour drive but everyone has Southwest I'm sure at their local airport and there's an EASY metro from Lambert to the arena area.

That or Nashville would seem to make sense (assuming arena availability). Anything but home arenas or say, Hartman arena (localized mini arena) for women's basketball is stupid.

[WuShock Reaper]

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2024/10/15/aac-basketball-tourney-new-site

The AAC is “exploring moving” the conference’s men's and women's basketball tournaments after the upcoming season, according to Brett Vito of the DENTON RECORD-CHRONICLE. The conference has played both its men’s and women’s tournaments at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth since the 2020-21 season. AAC Commissioner Tim Pernetti said that the conference hopes to determine where it will hold both tournaments “at the end of the 2025-26 season” by the time this season’s event begins in March. The league is “open to the possibility of separating its men’s and women’s tournaments” as the events currently overlap by a day. Pernetti said that the league will “offer cities the opportunity to present proposals to host the women’s tournament, the men’s tournament or both.” He also said that there are “at least a half a dozen cities" outside the Dallas-Fort Worth area that have expressed interest. Vito noted the league has "not ruled out holding the event on the home court of a league member.” Pernetti said that the league is "looking for a short-term arrangement" for its basketball postseason (DENTON RECORD-CHRONICLE, 10/14).

If they are looking for a short-term location, then by all means have it at Intrust Bank Arena or at the Roundhouse.

[WuDrWu]

"Short-term arrangement" because the league doesn't know what the makeup of schools will be year to year or if it even continues to be a conference.

[Aargh]

How about St. Louis? Shox fans are pretty famiiar with that location.

[shockrah]

OKC!!!

[Kung Wu]

OKC!!!

Not bad!

[shoxlax]

Havana