Welcome to The Holy Land of Hoops

Well not really now, but it sure sounds like the BE presidents know they have to make the tournament a success right away.

The email also states that the new Big East's tournament, which will be played at Madison Square Garden, cannot afford to be considered second-tier. The email says there must be a strong push by the member schools to get out ahead of the tournament to ensure a success. There is concern that if attendance were poor it would reflect badly upon the new Big East.

It will be interesting to see how many each school buys. I don't imagine MSG will be sold out the way it was when UConn and Syracuse played just because of the close proximity of those schools, but I am hopeful we can have big crowds.

I would think that Xavier will bring it's usual fine attendance numbers.

XU fans travel well and having the chance to hit MSG will enhance the usual crowd.

The wife and I plan to be there.

Never been to NYC. Going to make this a priority.

Muskie wrote:Never been to NYC. Going to make this a priority.

I would hope that the new schools really turn out for next year's tournament.

admin wrote:It will be interesting to see how many each school buys. I don't imagine MSG will be sold out the way it was when UConn and Syracuse played just because of the close proximity of those schools, but I am hopeful we can have big crowds.

Ticket purchases and attendance have been 2 different things at the old Big East. Each school in the conference had to buy an allotment and then was responsible for distributing their tickets as they saw fit. This way all sessions were 'sell-outs', although you might see empty seats depending upon the match-ups. This also creates a big secondary market for tickets. Put good teams in the Garden and you'll have good crowds.

Creighton will be well represented. We may not get the 6,000 we brought to St Louis this year due to proximity but I still expect a good turnout. I already made hotel reservations under the expectation that it will be the week before the NCAA tourney. Does anyone have any info or strong hunches on dates? Curious if the championship game would likely be Saturday or Sunday?

What do tickets for the whole tournament cost? or can they be bought for individual games only?

New York City Virgin here....if someone were to start looking for hotel options what would someone with knowledge of the area close to the Garden recommend?

Thanks in advance for the advice!