Comments on: Mizzou A.D. Wants An SEC Tourney In St. Louis, Too

By: Homepage | MrSEC

Homepage | MrSEC — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 19:06:04 +0000

[...] a while now — most recently last week — we at MrSEC.com have called for the league to create a regular rotation through four host [...]

By: Andy

Andy — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 20:19:43 +0000

St. Louis is centrally located. It’s not far from Mizzou, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Vandy, and Ole Miss. That’s half the league right there. Also, the St. Louis metro area as 2.5M people and they are known to support basketball. Attendance would be high.

By: AGator

AGator — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 23:55:44 +0000

@John at MrSEC
Even when UF was winning national championships people in Florida didn’t seem to care much about basketball.

There are a lot more fans at Gator games now days than in the past. Florida used to be horrible in basketball and nobody cared. I remember some games in the old arena (Alligator Alley) where it appeared there were only a few hundred people in the stands. Only the Kentucky game would have a decent crowd.

I hope they give St. Louis a try. It’s not far from Kentucky and Missouri fans would show up too.

By: John at MrSEC

John at MrSEC — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 23:00:51 +0000

MoKelly…

D’oh! Obviously, I’ve killed a few too many brain cells on both Bourbon and Beale in my day.

John

By: MoKelly

MoKelly — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 18:32:46 +0000

@John at MrSEC Do you mean Beale street?

By: John at MrSEC

John at MrSEC — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 18:13:30 +0000

David…

Sorry, but walking straight out of the FedExForum onto Bourbon Street works for me and thousands of other tourists each year.

Thanks for reading,
John

By: David

David — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 17:46:02 +0000

Anywhere but Memphis.

By: John at MrSEC

John at MrSEC — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 17:29:00 +0000

Mattox…

Keep in mind, Florida fans haven’t always given robust support to their own basketball team attendance-wise… despite winning two national crowns in the last decade. (Cue the debaters, but everyone knows Billy Donovan’s often been asked about empty seats at the O-Dome over the years.)

Part of making a successful tourney is putting it in a place where basketball-crazy fans are nearby. St. Louis would have Missouri and Kentucky fans. Kansas City would at least have Missouri and Arkansas fans. Houston, well, that’s another matter.

But St. Pete proved to be a dud with a capital D in ’09. And we’re not ready to totally blame Billy Gillispie for that (though UK fans also blame him for Hurricane Katrina, the Hanta virus, and the Dark Ages).

Thanks for reading the site,John

By: AndrewMartin

AndrewMartin — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 17:07:12 +0000

I am not from Florida and I sounds like the tourny attendance did not go well in Florida, but I would think there would be a location that made sense in that state in addition to Houston, Dallas, St. Louis, etc. There are a lot of people in Florida and it also is a destination state for many travelers.

By: Mattox

Mattox — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 16:59:46 +0000

The 2009 SEC Tournament was a disaster because Kentucky basketball was in turmoil under Billy Gillispie. If the SEC Tournament were in St. Petersburg this year, ticket sales would be robust and 20,000+ Kentucky fans would be in attendance. I don’t mind the idea of an SEC Tournament in St. Louis, but I think Kansas City is too much of a stretch and too far outside ‘SEC Country’.