Originally Posted by
Jim Ganzer, "IWB"
I have bitched about this for years. I hate the freaking POD system. Stop moving teams, put the tourney games where they belong. Can't sell tickets in Boise or Salt Lake? Stop putting the tourney there.
When selling tickets to the NCAA tourney, you need three things...
#1 Most important, support from the host school. The host school needs to sell tickets to their fan base, their season ticket holders.
#2 You need to sell tickets to the host community. Ask yourself, does the local community support events like this?
#3 You need to sell tickets to participating schools.
If your stadium seats 16,000, you need to sell...
#1 5,000 to your host school
#2 5,000 to your local community
#3 6,000 to the participating schools
Its that simple.
The problem is they have changed it to help things, but they have really only hurt it. Every year you see games in obscure cities where the seats are completely empty - stop giving it to them. I don't care if Salt Lake City is the only city that applies in the West every year, stop giving it to them if they can't sell seats!
Then you have the mega cities like New Orleans. If you are hosting a Final Four, you ramp up with 1st & 2nd round, then Regionals. Please stop. I remember a few years back they had problems selling tickets so on selection Sunday they changed seeds to send Duke & Notre Dame there to help sell tickets. That is fair to no one. Did it help? They sold 2,000 more tickets, but the stadium, or DOME, was still empty. Don't put first two rounds in a Dome. Oh, and the host school? Tulane. They don't have a fan base, so what did they sell, 500 tickets?
Look at some of the bracketed projections for Milwaukee this year...
Some have MKE getting 5-12, 4-13, 6-11 & 3-14. So no 1 or 2 seed. Shouldn't every location get one of the best?
There is another projection where MKE gets 5-12, 4-13, 5-12, 4-13. Really? Not even a top 3 seed? These literally could be 4 blowout games? Every city should get a mix, and it should be the same region. If I am watching four teams the winners should advance to play each other. Give me a 2-15, 7-10, 3-14 and 6-11 and I'll be happy. Also, if you are a fan of a 3 seed and you win, will you stay in the stadium after the game if the next game is an obscure matchup from a different region? No, but if you play the winner of the next game as you advance, you might stay to watch. Look at ESPN's bracket, they have TWO 2-15 seeds in Indy. Really? Sure, Indy wants to see a #2 seed, but do they need two blowouts?
Finally - Stop putting it in cities that are hard to fly to. Maybe cut deals with airlines and preferred cities? I am cheap so I watch costs. Each year MU is in the tourney I plan on going. Then it comes out... Sacramento? Hmm... let's check flights...$300? Maybe I'll swing it....talk to the wife...sure I'll go, log back in and now its $375. Hmm... "hey it just went up, should I still go?" Ok... log back in...now $475. This is all in less than an hour.
NCAA needs to do three things...
1) Select host sites that sell tickets to the host school and community, if they don't - don't repeat there.
2) Stop the pod system and put teams where they need to be put. You have four #4 seeds, place them the closest that you can to their home and go from there. Don't slide them up, or down, seed them correctly and place them the best you can IN THEIR REGION!
3) Pick favorable travel sites. If they are tough to fly to? Cut deals with airlines to charter. "Official Charter of the NCAA". Take a 747 and sell tickets to Marquette fans and Wichita State fans. Depart Milwaukee, layover in Wichita and land in Sacramento. Keep fares reasonable and you will sell tickets.