Note–This is from one of the smart guys I speak to regularly, in response to my post yesterday about keeping the tournament in Richmond. These viewpoints belong to him and him only and as such I’ve left them unedited, except the parts where he quotes me. Those I set off using the quote function for distinguishability purposes only. Yes, I made that word up:

The argument is as tired as it is silly. Every year many people talk about removing the CAA tournament from Richmond, and some media member decides it’s his job to refute the masses. This year it’s the Yeagerbomber, the Jamaican Patriot hater, the CAA frontman, The Sultan of the CAA South, Michael Litos himself who took the time. And I appreciate that with him comes a unique perspective, that of access and yet independence. He chose to disagree with my previous thoughts on the matter, and so he’s clearly completely wrong in everything that he said, except for the parts that were correct.

I know home court advantage when I see it. Because of this, I’m aware that VCU has a crazy homecourt advantage when playing on the CarMax Floor in the Verizon Wireless arena at the Seigel Center on Captain Planet Earth. I also know that VCU doesn’t appear to have a huge statistical advantage at the Richmond Colesium, just as Drexel doesn’t at the Palestra despite their fans traveling from four blocks away, or Northeastern playing at Agganis. So I don’t believe that being close to somewhere gives you home court advantage. But I do believe that being accessible to somewhere makes the tournament much more convenient for fan bases on both on a fiscal and time basis. It gives local schools an opportunity to shout from the rooftops that they’re a part of division 1, they can be a big fish in any size pond, and look how important they are on the college basketball scene. In competitive markets it is a chance to showcase a league that might not otherwise be seen by local officials and alumni, a chance to grow fan support at programs that don’t already sell out regularly. You don’t need to worry about homefield advantage on the court, but I don’t think anyone can deny that local programs can and will benefit from the tournament.

Quoting Mr. Litos:

“You’re telling me it’s smart to move the tourney, lose the money, lose the branding/national appeal, lose the attendance, losr the vibe, and jeopardize funding of other, non-revenue sports, all in the name of appeasing 200 Hofstra fans and 100 Drexel fans? Or in the name of a vocal minority who want better restaurants?

It isn’t what you gain, it’s what you lose. It’s called opportunity cost.”

OK, but let’s follow that. What is the opportunity cost of having the tournament in the #61 media market instead of the #21? Sure, it’s cheaper for the tourney to advertise in Richmond… But it’s also cheaper for sponsors to advertise in Richmond. I am no specialist when it comes to advertising cost, but I think it’s a safe bet that a city such as Baltimore would demand additional sponsorship dollars for the league. The branding and national appeal you spoke of? The same TV networks will carry the games, and if nothing else MASN or Comcast might just pickup an additional round since a local game for them will be cheaper to produce. Furthermore, do you think the Army, Amtrak, or Aeropostale wouldn’t find advertising in Baltimore just as favorable if not moreso than advertising in Richmond?

As a matter of fact, the only economic argument against leaving Richmond, short of the cities bids (which I will touch on later) is ticket sales. They say that a little over 42,000 people were at the 6 sessions in Richmond this past weekend, no doubt assisted by the home team playing on Friday afternoon, usually an empty session. That’s approximately 7,000 people per session. Michael Litos says that 4,000 VCU fans would travel to Baltimore. Let’s take that down for purposes of realism and say that 3,000 fans travel. And 2,000 fans from Mason make the 59 mile drive, similar to the ODU fans drive to Richmond. That’s 5000 fans. The CAA mandates that each school buys a minimum number of tickets. I’m unsure of the number, but again lets err to the lower side… call it 100 tickets. So the other 10 schools have to buy 1,000 tickets combined. That’s 6,000 fans. So in order to make up the difference between Richmond and Baltimore, the CAA would need to draw an extra 1,000 fans per session from: The local Baltimore community. And the additional ODU, Drexel, Towson, UD, Hofstra, and NU fans beyond the 100 tickets that the schools are mandated to buy. Oh and the vastly increased alumni bases in the Baltimore/Washington area. All of this is rough numbers, the point is, how sure are we that ticket sales would decrease that monumentally by moving to a school that is within a 4 hour drive of 9 CAA member institutions (Richmond is within a 4 hour drive of 8 CAA schools). Everyone makes the assumption, but where is the evidence?

I won’t take the time to get into the Richmond Colesium vs 99% of other buildings on the East Coast, or in Port Au Prince. What I will speak to is that the city of Richmond is playing the same way the CAA is right now. They aren’t investing in doing things right, and as a result they aren’t able to keep pace with their competitors. The Richmond Braves realized this and left town, and if God hear’s my prayers, the CAA will do the same.

Once again quoting Mr. Litos:

“Every year people have a venue answer based on nothing but geography. Nobody has ever put in the time to give a complete answer. “Baltimore’s inner harbor is better because it has better restaurants, a better bar scene, and a better venue.”

I’ll leave that alone, because no one with half a brain will argue the point that Inner Harbor is a more attractive tourist destination. And the Amtrak thing? It’s a great idea. Except have two northeast corridor trains, one from Boston and one from Newport News ODU, W&M, VCU, and Mason all on one, and NU, HU, DU, UD all on the other. How great would both of those trains be? In the words of Dick somebody, Rivalry City Baby! Especially if they can make one of the cars of the train a “family unfriendly” car. The only rule of fight club car, is no talking about fight club car.

In the end, the main reason not to move to Baltimore is becuase it’s harder. You need to put the legwork in to find new sponsors, you need to writeup new contracts and work with new people. Could you put on just as good of an event in a more tourist friendly city then Richmond? I believe you could. And I’m speaking out about this because I think that complacency should be fought every step of the way. When I asked one of the powers that be about bids, he said that if you want a city to bid, go after the city. He made it clear that the league simply had no interest in aggressively pursueing bids past sending out Requests for Proposals. I believe that when the “AE4″ joined the league, in order to save the CAA autobid, it was anticipated that the CAA would put some effort into returning that assistance. That effort that has seemed drastically understated since day one, especially when they spend money on commercials advertising the number of championships held inside the state of Virginia. That advertisement comes across as foolish, arrogant and out of touch in the northern media markets.

In these times no one can afford to get hosed financially, especially at a fundraiser like the tourney. However, if someone is willing to put the legwork in and do it right, I believe that there is every indication that the tourney can be successful in the Charm City, and increase exposure to the conference in an area that is vastly under served at the present time. All this while exposing the coaches, players, and school donors with vastly improved facilities. I feel that it’s high time that member institutions demand that CAA officials earn their salaries by taking a true, thorough look at other options such as Baltimore.