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Please participate and bring the tourney back to Denver.
https://twitter.com/wyo_mbb/status/899748959203147777

I know a lot of people that hated the tournament being in Denver, but I attended the tournament every single year they had it there. Unable to do the same in Vegas, even though I wish I could. I doubt anything will change, Vegas is too much of a destination location for many folks, even though I despise the place. One of the dirtiest towns in all aspects in America.

I hated the tournament in Denver. Just didn't have a championship feel. Love going to Vegas, though!

Vegas is better. Despite the proximity, I don't believe Wyoming brought any more people to Denver than we do to Vegas and the overall attendance wasn't even close.

WYO1016 is right about the atmosphere. The MWCT in Vegas has a fairly big time feel (in contrast to the actual one-bid status of the league). Denver wasn't that good when it was tried before and that was when the MWC was a better league with some bigger fanbases still present. It would really go poorly now with basically only WYO and UNM fans there (and the millions of CSU fans in Denver going disguised as empty seats of course).

The only change I would like to see is move the tourney from the T&M to the new T Mobile arena. Much nicer digs and it would feel more like a neutral court.

Agree about the atmosphere in Vegas. I love going there.

Our problem is this. Since our leadership decided San Jose was a MWC team, and we became a one bid league because of their addition, the only way to go to the dance is to win the tournament.

Marvin Menzies is a good enough coach to take advantage of home court. People didn't mind Vegas with Rice as the coach because he was to incompetent to win it at home. Menzies won't have that problem.

We need to move it to a neutral site. Denver beats the hell out of Salt Lake or Phoenix.

NowherePoke wrote: ↑Tue Aug 22, 2017 7:29 am Vegas is better. Despite the proximity, I don't believe Wyoming brought any more people to Denver than we do to Vegas and the overall attendance wasn't even close.

WYO1016 is right about the atmosphere. The MWCT in Vegas has a fairly big time feel (in contrast to the actual one-bid status of the league). Denver wasn't that good when it was tried before and that was when the MWC was a better league with some bigger fanbases still present. It would really go poorly now with basically only WYO and UNM fans there (and the millions of CSU fans in Denver going disguised as empty seats of course).

Had the 2015 tournament been in Denver, with Josh Adams and Larry Nance. You don't think Wyoming would have gotten more butts in seats than with it in Vegas? I think the Pepsi Center would have sold out with B&G. Granted that is one year and its total speculation, but I would like to see the tournament move every year. Vegas once in a while is nice but every year? No thanks.

I think there are a couple of options you could consider.

The first would be to have the No. 1 seed host. This is something a lot of smaller conferences do, but I don't know of many mid-majors or major conferences that do this. It rewards the best team for its regular season. Some would argue it's too much.

If not, your best bet is to keep it in a bigger market. Really, I believe Las Vegas is about as good as it gets for being a destination spot for the tournament. Denver, SLC and Phoenix wouldn't carry near the same excitement.

Vegas is also at least somewhat centrally located. I get the argument about UNLV and home court, but some team will have an advantage no matter where you put it. UNLV has only won it 3 times in 15 years in Vegas, so it doesn't seem to be that big of a deal.

Several thoughts on this Vegas tourney thing...

First - Vegas sucks ass these days. It has evolved over the course of the last 10 years into one of the poop places in our country to visit. If getting hammered on $20 shots, dealing with droves of 19 year old LA poop, stepping over piles of puke / garbage / meth-heads, all the while avoiding tap-tap's and homeless people dressed as Pokemon, go for it. I used to go 4 - 6 times a year, sometimes more...and that number will now be 1, and maybe 2 when UW football is playing there. MAYBE. Vegas is not a reasonably priced destination any longer...f-word 'em and their "what happens" campaign. There is no class left in Vegas...that died years ago. It is about getting black out drunk, puking on yourself, and getting a nice gift to bring home to your primary care physician. Yippee!

Second - I don't know the answer to other options. Maybe the T Mobile arena will help the Vegas thing a little, but it is still Vegas. Maybe it should be rotated around the conference a little...San Diego, Denver, Salt Lake, Reno, Vegas, NM...??? I would avoid SJSU, Fresno, The Springs, FC, Laramie - but the others would be fine.

The big push for the move, is to get it into an actual neutral city. That crosses San Diego, Albuquerque, and Vegas off the list.

In the battle of neutral cities, it's Phoenix, Salt Lake, or Denver.

I'm choosing Denver in that situation. Phoenix wouldn't be awful, but Salt Lake is a non starter for me.

Cowboy Junky wrote: ↑Tue Aug 22, 2017 8:41 am Agree about the atmosphere in Vegas. I love going there.

Our problem is this. Since our leadership decided San Jose was a MWC team, and we became a one bid league because of their addition, the only way to go to the dance is to win the tournament.

Marvin Menzies is a good enough coach to take advantage of home court. People didn't mind Vegas with Rice as the coach because he was to incompetent to win it at home. Menzies won't have that problem.

We need to move it to a neutral site. Denver beats the hell out of Salt Lake or Phoenix.

All good points, I just think the negative of LV (UNLV Homecourt Advantage) is smaller than the negatives presented by the other options such as reduced attendance (read: $$$), small-time atmosphere, etc.

I actually took the survey and voted for Denver (side note, that survey was too long) to offset the likely votes for SD, etc., but I think practically Vegas on a neutral court is still the best option with the T&M being the 2nd best option ahead of neutral sites and way ahead of any other current MWC city.

Menzies and UNLV will be a problem, but I guess I just don't see it as being that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. We have had 18 MWC tourneys and there hasn't been a single occasion where Wyoming has lost to UNLV when Wyoming was the higher seed. We have lost to them 4 times I believe, but one of them was in Denver and every single time they were the higher seed. I am more worried about our poor MWCT history against AFA and CSU (embarrassing really) than about UNLV.

ItSucksToBeACSURam wrote: ↑Tue Aug 22, 2017 8:46 am

NowherePoke wrote: ↑Tue Aug 22, 2017 7:29 am Vegas is better. Despite the proximity, I don't believe Wyoming brought any more people to Denver than we do to Vegas and the overall attendance wasn't even close.

WYO1016 is right about the atmosphere. The MWCT in Vegas has a fairly big time feel (in contrast to the actual one-bid status of the league). Denver wasn't that good when it was tried before and that was when the MWC was a better league with some bigger fanbases still present. It would really go poorly now with basically only WYO and UNM fans there (and the millions of CSU fans in Denver going disguised as empty seats of course).

Had the 2015 tournament been in Denver, with Josh Adams and Larry Nance. You don't think Wyoming would have gotten more butts in seats than with it in Vegas? I think the Pepsi Center would have sold out with B&G. Granted that is one year and its total speculation, but I would like to see the tournament move every year. Vegas once in a while is nice but every year? No thanks.

We might have had more, I can see that as a possibility. Going back to when it was in Denver, my perception at the time was that the Wyoming crowds in Denver were not better than the Wyoming crowds in LV, but I might have been wrong.

The problem is that the overall crowds would be guaranteed to be smaller in Denver (or anywhere other than LV) and that is $$$ that would be decreased in the conference distributions. Neutral sites usually sound like a great idea until the finances come into play.

No chance the Pepsi Center would have sold out in B&G in 2015. We couldn't even sell out the reduced capacity AA, much less the Pepsi Center in Denver.

NowherePoke wrote: ↑Tue Aug 22, 2017 12:15 pm

Cowboy Junky wrote: ↑Tue Aug 22, 2017 8:41 am Agree about the atmosphere in Vegas. I love going there.

Our problem is this. Since our leadership decided San Jose was a MWC team, and we became a one bid league because of their addition, the only way to go to the dance is to win the tournament.

Marvin Menzies is a good enough coach to take advantage of home court. People didn't mind Vegas with Rice as the coach because he was to incompetent to win it at home. Menzies won't have that problem.

We need to move it to a neutral site. Denver beats the hell out of Salt Lake or Phoenix.

All good points, I just think the negative of LV (UNLV Homecourt Advantage) is smaller than the negatives presented by the other options such as reduced attendance (read: $$$), small-time atmosphere, etc.

I actually took the survey and voted for Denver (side note, that survey was too long) to offset the likely votes for SD, etc., but I think practically Vegas on a neutral court is still the best option with the T&M being the 2nd best option ahead of neutral sites and way ahead of any other current MWC city.

Menzies and UNLV will be a problem, but I guess I just don't see it as being that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. We have had 18 MWC tourneys and there hasn't been a single occasion where Wyoming has lost to UNLV when Wyoming was the higher seed. We have lost to them 4 times I believe, but one of them was in Denver and every single time they were the higher seed. I am more worried about our poor MWCT history against AFA and CSU (embarrassing really) than about UNLV.

I think it's a combination of a lot of factors that are forcing the move.

1. Vegas is now saturated with conference tournaments. We used to be the only ones in Vegas. Now everyone has their tournament in Vegas.

2. Our idiot leadership replaced two teams that attend the tournament(BYU and Utah) with teams that don't(SJSU, Nevada, USU). They should have added Wichita or Utep instead of Joser.

3. We're a one bid league because of the addition of Joser. That kills interest in the tournament, when the quality of product is hot garbage.

I just can't see us moving the tournament from one MWC city to another. That's just shifting the b.s. from UNLV to UNM, SDSU....They won't do that. If it moves, it will be to a neutral city or they'll have to agree to some rotation among schools. Rotating among schools wont include all the schools because teams like San Jose don't have the facilities for it. That will most likely kill the rotation idea.

That means, it almost has to go to a neutral venue. I just can't see it in Salt Lake.

To me, it's between Phoenix or Denver.

Leave it in Vegas and move it to MGM Grand, T- Mobile is not happening for the MW unless we move the date.

Best option: Vegas at another arena.
Next Best option: Vegas at the T&M.

Vegas is a great location and other tournaments coming there just proves it. Its a great atmosphere with College basketball fans from the MW and the PAC and whoever else is there are in town. It would be great if we could get out of the Rebels home arena but I understand logistics makes it hard. There are only so many venues and other conferences are coming to town and I thik the T&M gives us a deal.

Its unfortunate that we give UNLV a home town advantage but it is what it is. Vegas is the best town for the tourney.

McPeachy wrote: ↑Tue Aug 22, 2017 9:48 am Several thoughts on this Vegas tourney thing...

First - Vegas sucks ass these days. It has evolved over the course of the last 10 years into one of the poop places in our country to visit. If getting hammered on $20 shots, dealing with droves of 19 year old LA poop, stepping over piles of puke / garbage / meth-heads, all the while avoiding tap-tap's and homeless people dressed as Pokemon, go for it. I used to go 4 - 6 times a year, sometimes more...and that number will now be 1, and maybe 2 when UW football is playing there. MAYBE. Vegas is not a reasonably priced destination any longer...f-word 'em and their "what happens" campaign. There is no class left in Vegas...that died years ago. It is about getting black out drunk, puking on yourself, and getting a nice gift to bring home to your primary care physician. Yippee!

Second - I don't know the answer to other options. Maybe the T Mobile arena will help the Vegas thing a little, but it is still Vegas. Maybe it should be rotated around the conference a little...San Diego, Denver, Salt Lake, Reno, Vegas, NM...??? I would avoid SJSU, Fresno, The Springs, FC, Laramie - but the others would be fine.

I absolutely agree with this. Vegas is more like the slums of L.A. than the Vegas it used to be.

WYCowboy wrote: ↑Tue Aug 22, 2017 4:33 pm

McPeachy wrote: ↑Tue Aug 22, 2017 9:48 am Several thoughts on this Vegas tourney thing...

First - Vegas sucks ass these days. It has evolved over the course of the last 10 years into one of the poop places in our country to visit. If getting hammered on $20 shots, dealing with droves of 19 year old LA poop, stepping over piles of puke / garbage / meth-heads, all the while avoiding tap-tap's and homeless people dressed as Pokemon, go for it. I used to go 4 - 6 times a year, sometimes more...and that number will now be 1, and maybe 2 when UW football is playing there. MAYBE. Vegas is not a reasonably priced destination any longer...f-word 'em and their "what happens" campaign. There is no class left in Vegas...that died years ago. It is about getting black out drunk, puking on yourself, and getting a nice gift to bring home to your primary care physician. Yippee!

Second - I don't know the answer to other options. Maybe the T Mobile arena will help the Vegas thing a little, but it is still Vegas. Maybe it should be rotated around the conference a little...San Diego, Denver, Salt Lake, Reno, Vegas, NM...??? I would avoid SJSU, Fresno, The Springs, FC, Laramie - but the others would be fine.

I absolutely agree with this. Vegas is more like the slums of L.A. than the Vegas it used to be.

It'll get much worse when the Oakland Raiders move to Vegas in 2 years!

Be like it used to be during the WAC days when all schools hosted it, why not, gives locations ample time to prepare, a sure economic boost and would be the only conference in America that does it. I loved when it came to Laramie in 1991 didn't go to classes those days, met some really cool fans from across the region, and if it could be done in 1991 with limited resources, Laramie has grown considerably since then. I do like the idea of maybe rotating it with Albuquerque, Denver and LV and maybe San Diego or San Francisco. I went to the tourney in LV my 1st time in 15 and loved it but if we aren't good then it's just a trip to Vegas when we're good then it's a bonus. Vegas is fun "to an extent" but I need a reason to go, other than gambling, I need events associated with it, been there too many times to count and kinda bored with it

WYCowboy wrote: ↑Tue Aug 22, 2017 4:33 pm

McPeachy wrote: ↑Tue Aug 22, 2017 9:48 am Several thoughts on this Vegas tourney thing...

First - Vegas sucks ass these days. It has evolved over the course of the last 10 years into one of the poop places in our country to visit. If getting hammered on $20 shots, dealing with droves of 19 year old LA poop, stepping over piles of puke / garbage / meth-heads, all the while avoiding tap-tap's and homeless people dressed as Pokemon, go for it. I used to go 4 - 6 times a year, sometimes more...and that number will now be 1, and maybe 2 when UW football is playing there. MAYBE. Vegas is not a reasonably priced destination any longer...f-word 'em and their "what happens" campaign. There is no class left in Vegas...that died years ago. It is about getting black out drunk, puking on yourself, and getting a nice gift to bring home to your primary care physician. Yippee!

Second - I don't know the answer to other options. Maybe the T Mobile arena will help the Vegas thing a little, but it is still Vegas. Maybe it should be rotated around the conference a little...San Diego, Denver, Salt Lake, Reno, Vegas, NM...??? I would avoid SJSU, Fresno, The Springs, FC, Laramie - but the others would be fine.

I absolutely agree with this. Vegas is more like the slums of L.A. than the Vegas it used to be.

Ugh...

How do the finances work at the host city? It's to their financial benefit to have the tournament, but who pays the cost of the court venue? If a city thinks it benefits, how about having a bidding war?