Doubt there will be another BTT hosted here

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formerlybis

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I volunteered at both the women's and men's BTT this year (as well as the women's BTT last year).

Let me start by saying that having it here while Caitlin Clark was in school basically saved this from being a complete embarrassment. I'm not exaggerating when I say there were 20x more Iowa fans last week than last night - it was Thursday night instead of Friday night, so that made a difference, but I doubt it would have been much different tomorrow.

The fact of the matter is that Mpls is not a place visiting fans are eager to come to (like DC and potentially Vegas or LA in the future) and it is not centrally located to the footprint of the conference's alumni bases like Chicago and Indy. The crowds - other than for the Iowa women - are disappointing, even for the host team. Maybe especially for the home team. Plus, from what I gather from B1G staffers comments, the Target Center itself has some physical shortcomings relative to the other venues they've been at.

It was a worth a shot from the B1G's perspective, but the lesson has been learned. They won't be going to Milwaukee, Detroit, or Cleveland, either.
 

yea this doesn’t surprise me. i was shocked at how few mn fans we had yesterday at the game, even with the 11am start.
 


formerlybis said:
I volunteered at both the women's and men's BTT this year (as well as the women's BTT last year).

Let me start by saying that having it here while Caitlin Clark was in school basically saved this from being a complete embarrassment. I'm not exaggerating when I say there were 20x more Iowa fans last week than last night - it was Thursday night instead of Friday night, so that made a difference, but I doubt it would have been much different tomorrow.

The fact of the matter is that Mpls is not a place visiting fans are eager to come to (like DC and potentially Vegas or LA in the future) and it is not centrally located to the footprint of the conference's alumni bases like Chicago and Indy. The crowds - other than for the Iowa women - are disappointing, even for the host team. Maybe especially for the home team. Plus, from what I gather from B1G staffers comments, the Target Center itself has some physical shortcomings relative to the other venues they've been at.

It was a worth a shot from the B1G's perspective, but the lesson has been learned. They won't be going to Milwaukee, Detroit, or Cleveland, either.
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And, as always, thank you for volunteering!
 

I think there's alot of factors for this. Yes, some that MSP isn't centrally located and not a vacation dream for most Big Ten fans. I also feel the lack of really good teams have fans less confident to travel and invested in their teams. Besides Purdue and maybe Illinois, the Big Ten teams have struggled to win games which in turn doesn't attract fans. If MSU was top ten or twenty they would have tons of fans, Michigan as well, or an Indiana. Fact is their fans aren't traveling in numbers because of the bad to mediocre seasons. Nebraska might be the only fan base actually excited by their team and willing to travel/spend money.
 


Probably true but was anyway. Much like the Super Bowl we got our one time and that's it. If the Wolves get a new arena maybe they get one in 10 years or so.
 

If flights were cheap to get here, that would be another factor.

They’re anything but.

MSP is largely a monopoly by Delta. Unless you’re willing to connect, which fewer people are, or fly economy airlines (still fewer direct options) which some people don’t like.


And you’re sure as heck not going to drive here, even from Chicago would be iffy. Forget it if farther than that.


No, Chicago is truly the best spot for the conference other than one-offs to “exciting” spots like NYC now and then.

Tons of flights, cheap flights. Built for hosting.

Is what it is. Most things should be in Chicago, most of the times.
 

I’ve been to a lot of Big Ten tournaments since early 2000s. Target Center is not as good a venue as Indy or United Center but much better than Verizon in DC.

The crowds are quite comparable to early rounds in previous years. Every once in a while in Indy or Chicago and an Iliinois or Indiana team is playing they might get bigger.

Lots of reasons why it might not come back but some of this is overstated.
 

I'll be interested to see how the crowds are today/tonight and Saturday with more premium teams playing.
 



Holy Man said:
I’ve been to a lot of Big Ten tournaments since early 2000s. Target Center is not as good a venue as Indy or United Center but much better than Verizon in DC.

The crowds are quite comparable to early rounds in previous years. Every once in a while in Indy or Chicago and an Iliinois or Indiana team is playing they might get bigger.

Lots of reasons why it might not come back but some of this is overstated.
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Totally agree with this. The crowds are very similar to other years for first day.
 

howeda7 said:
Probably true but was anyway. Much like the Super Bowl we got our one time and that's it. If the Wolves get a new arena maybe they get one in 10 years or so.
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I think Mpls does better with national events. Maybe they won't get another Super Bowl, but I thought the men's final four in 2019 was good enough for the NCAA to come back (that was at US Bank). The women's final four was just ok - we will need to either replace or significantly upgrade Target Center for that.
MplsGopher said:
If flights were cheap to get here, that would be another factor.

They’re anything but.

MSP is largely a monopoly by Delta. Unless you’re willing to connect, which fewer people are, or fly economy airlines (still fewer direct options) which some people don’t like.


And you’re sure as heck not going to drive here, even from Chicago would be iffy. Forget it if farther than that.


No, Chicago is truly the best spot for the conference other than one-offs to “exciting” spots like NYC now and then.

Tons of flights, cheap flights. Built for hosting.

Is what it is. Most things should be in Chicago, most of the times.
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By all accounts, Indy is a great host city. It does have flight issues, however, and with the western teams coming, it'll be less ideal than it has been.
 

As has been mentioned that's happened more than once for this tournament. Everybody knowing who's gonna win it doesn't help attendance at all. Why travel a few hundred miles to see your team get beat?

Not surprising at all why the locals didn't show-up to see a team that was without its two best players get killed again.

Fans have had opportunities in the past two months to see that already.
 
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It's driving distance for iowa fans and you can get to it from a light rail (even with a non-zero risk of crime) from the airport, is that true for all the other schools?
 

formerlybis said:
I volunteered at both the women's and men's BTT this year (as well as the women's BTT last year).

Let me start by saying that having it here while Caitlin Clark was in school basically saved this from being a complete embarrassment. I'm not exaggerating when I say there were 20x more Iowa fans last week than last night - it was Thursday night instead of Friday night, so that made a difference, but I doubt it would have been much different tomorrow.

The fact of the matter is that Mpls is not a place visiting fans are eager to come to (like DC and potentially Vegas or LA in the future) and it is not centrally located to the footprint of the conference's alumni bases like Chicago and Indy. The crowds - other than for the Iowa women - are disappointing, even for the host team. Maybe especially for the home team. Plus, from what I gather from B1G staffers comments, the Target Center itself has some physical shortcomings relative to the other venues they've been at.

It was a worth a shot from the B1G's perspective, but the lesson has been learned. They won't be going to Milwaukee, Detroit, or Cleveland, either.
Click to expand...
I'm surprised Detroit or Cleveland never got one
 


Just for the record, the comment on the physical shortcomings of Target Center from the B1G staffer had to do with the running of the event, not so much the fan experience - things like getting the bands, cheer squads, and different media folks and VIPs situated. I think the technology and the hospitality stuff are as good as anywhere, it's just a complicated wayfinding exercise for everyone and no way to avoid running into each other.

I will say hats off to the Lifetime fitness at Target Center for giving a nice practice space this year for the cheerleaders - last year they were doing backflips on the concrete in the areas under the stands and by the loading dock. Much better setup
 

MplsGopher said:
If flights were cheap to get here, that would be another factor.

They’re anything but.

MSP is largely a monopoly by Delta. Unless you’re willing to connect, which fewer people are, or fly economy airlines (still fewer direct options) which some people don’t like.


And you’re sure as heck not going to drive here, even from Chicago would be iffy. Forget it if farther than that.


No, Chicago is truly the best spot for the conference other than one-offs to “exciting” spots like NYC now and then.

Tons of flights, cheap flights. Built for hosting.

Is what it is. Most things should be in Chicago, most of the times.
Click to expand...
Chicago drive isn't too bad from here. I do it often. Hate Delta, fly strictly United, so I'm connecting no matter what. The UC isn't too bad except you are not by restaurants and hotels like Minneapolis and Indianapolis. Have a feeling that the games will probably be permanently between Chicago-Indianapolis-Las Vegas. Please no more NYC experiments, sorry #GopherinNYC :)
 

WriterGoph said:
I'll be interested to see how the crowds are today/tonight and Saturday with more premium teams playing.
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Mrs Gil and played hooky this week, even with PU and MSU playing, not as many folks here as I thought it would be. Crowds were larger in Chicago and Indy. But this is the first session.
 

Gilthorp57 said:
Chicago drive isn't too bad from here. I do it often. Hate Delta, fly strictly United, so I'm connecting no matter what. The UC isn't too bad except you are not by restaurants and hotels like Minneapolis and Indianapolis. Have a feeling that the games will probably be permanently between Chicago-Indianapolis-Las Vegas. Please no more NYC experiments, sorry #GopherinNYC :)
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On the WBB side, thought there was a lot of buzz for the Detroit bid. Perhaps I misunderstood the tea leaves.
 

They'll probably try to have some in LA in the future with the pac 12 teams joining.

But at least we did better than the American conference. There's probably about 1000 people at the noon game right now.
 

Iceland12 said:
As has been mentioned that's happened more than once for this tournament. Everybody knowing who's gonna win it doesn't help attendance at all. Why travel a few hundred miles to see your team get beat?

Not surprising at all why the locals didn't show-up to see a team that was without its two best players get killed again.

Fans have had opportunities in the past two months to see that already.
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What two best players were missing?
 


LongLiveMilesTarver said:
They'll probably try to have some in LA in the future with the pac 12 teams joining.

But at least we did better than the American conference. There's probably about 1000 people at the noon game right now.
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They won't do LA. Bad attendance, that's why the Pac 12 moved it to Las Vegas
 



Not super related, but I was at the Wolves Kings game a few weeks back and was sitting next to a couple from Iowa (they came up for the Caitlyn Clark game and stayed to watch Keegan Murray for the Kings). He was absolutely gushing about the setup with light rail and skyways and how easy it is to get to the arena. He said way better than other places they've been. You take some things for granted when you live here, but with public transit, skyways, three of the arenas in DT Mpls, and an airport not that far from downtown, it is a pretty good setup for events.
 


howeda7 said:
Probably true but was anyway. Much like the Super Bowl we got our one time and that's it. If the Wolves get a new arena maybe they get one in 10 years or so.
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There have actually been 2 Super Bowls in Minneapolis, granted they were a generation apart.
 

Go4 said:
yea this doesn’t surprise me. i was shocked at how few mn fans we had yesterday at the game, even with the 11am start.
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$$$$

The quality of play for 2nd round is not worth the price being demanded.
 

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