grizzlyjournal
Well-known member
Since the announcement of a 3-year contract by the Big Sky Conference with the city of Reno, NV to host the men’s and women’s basketball post-season tourney, I have openly voiced my opposition, including here at eGriz.
As briefly as possible, I opposed it for several reasons:
• The regular conference winner has earned the right to host on its home court;
• The host school, city and fans deserve hosting recognition;
• Schools not interested or capable could waive the right to host;
• I’ve supported a smaller, more manageable, 8-team affair with seeds 5-8 hosting seeds 9-12 in pre-tourney qualifiers.
As the tourney approached, I agreed with many voiced questions at eGriz, including questions regarding why a logical centralized location like Spokane or Salt Lake wasn’t considered.
Some coaches (Montana’s Robin Selvig among them) pointed out that student athletes from some schools would miss over two weeks of classes. The Montana Lady Griz and Montana Bobcats women’s team were particularly hard hit.
As the tourney proceeded, poorly attended games, spotty media coverage of games, even worse game photo coverage and even worse coverage by the Reno newspaper (Reno Journal Gazette) made things worse.
In response to some posts critical of my views, I asked for proof that the tourney was indeed successful. I received one reply.
That reply came from Jon Kasper, who is the Big Sky Conference Assistant Commissioner/Championships, and one of the principal organizers of the tourney.
“Personally, it has been hard to go on the message boards and read the negative posts,” wrote Kasper, in an email to me, in which he wrote that he was “very frustrated” reading my posts on the tourney media coverage and asked for an exchange to, “set the record straight.”
Some personal (grizzlyjournal) disclosure here: I was a local (Missoula) sportswriter during the 1980s and did extensive freelance sports photography and freelance Big Sky Conf. (FCS) football and basketball writing between 2004--2012. Jon has always been very generous in granting me, and other freelance journalists, press credentials to all Big Sky events.
My reply to Jon: "Of course."
What follows is a very detailed account of the first Big Sky Conference men’s and women’s basketball tourney in Reno. I have included it in its entirety (with minor reorganization of some material). After reading Jon’s account, I’ve changed several of my opinions and have decided to make a concerted effort to attend next year.
“I know how hard I and our (Big Sky Conference) staff worked to make Reno successful,” wrote Kasper.
“We also knew that we faced an uphill battle with some fan bases -- especially Montana and Weber State -- who have become accustomed to hosting the Big Sky Championship on a regular basis. Our previous format was great for one fan base -- the fans of the team that hosted the championship,” wrote Kasper.
“However, when a host institution has so much control of major event, it creates issues for the other schools and our staff,” wrote Kasper. “We always had complaints -- not just at Montana, but wherever the tournament was -- about the PA announcer, about the music being played, about locker assignments.”
Kasper also stressed that, with the previous tourney format, “It was extremely difficult for parents of student-athletes to travel to places like Missoula, Greeley, Grand Forks on short notice. It was expensive for schools to send cheer, dance, bands and mascots. It put a great amount of stress and pressure on the host institution to secure lodging for x amount of teams on short notice.”
Wrote Kasper: “As far as putting on the actual tournament, no doubt the folks at Montana are top-notch. They do an amazing job.”
But even Montana and Missoula had struggles. “If you remember from a couple of years ago, Missoula hosted an AAU basketball event the same week as our Big Sky Championship,” said Kasper. “Montana had to work extremely hard to find enough rooms for our teams. There wasn't anything left for fans. Some of our teams had to stay at hotels that were not the best in the city. And we had complaints.”
So, a change of tourney format to a neutral city/site, was considered.
“This was a move pushed by our basketball coaches and administrators,” said Kasper, who added that Big Sky Conference commissioner, Doug Fullerton opposed the move, but, Doug works for the presidents and the institutions, as the entire conference staff does.
“We also know it is something we have to build and it wasn't going to be 100 percent successful over time.”
“Our first tournament in Reno was far from perfect,” wrote Kasper, “but we were very happy with the outcome. I honestly believe you had to be there to get the full experience. I spoke with many people who said they would return next year, and would tell folks back home to come down the following year,” wrote Kasper.
“The Big Sky Conference for the first time was able to play on a court with our brand, play with basketballs with our logo, have signage for all 12 Big Sky institutions.
“The fans, student-athletes, and administrators all had overwhelming positive feedback. The hotels are on block from the arena and there are tons of great restaurants, bars, etc., in the hotels/casinos.
“For the first time, we had our basketball fans interacting, our student-athletes interacting,” wrote Kasper. “There was a sense of pride that we'd never seen before, and something we desperately need to help build our basketball brand. I spoke to many parents who had a wonderful experience, so talked about booking travel months in advance, and had the tournament been in Ogden or Bozeman, would not have been able to attend.”
Why Reno?
Kasper stressed that Reno was selected as the site that best matched the goals of the Big Sky.
“Spokane submitted a bid,” wrote Kasper. “But there were issues. One: the women would have been in Cheney except for the championship. Also, the dates would not have worked. Because of the minor league hockey at the big arena in Spokane, they wanted us to play championship games on days that didn't work with our ESPN contract.”
“Salt Lake did not submit a bid,” wrote Kasper. “Ogden did. But that would not have been neutral. We also reached out to Seattle. Key Arena was booked in one of the three years. We also looked at Vegas, (but there was no) location for us to play, and we would not have had a financial guarantee.
“Greeley/Loveland also submitted a bid,” wrote Kasper, (but the) men would have played in Loveland at Budweiser Arena, (and the) women would have been at UNC.
“Reno,” wrote Kasper, “allowed for all 24 teams to play at one facility.”
Regarding many of my written criticisms of the tourney, Kasper responded:
“As far as your concerns about the media: You are correct that we only had an AP photographer there for the championship. That really isn't anything that changed - other than the local paper would send photos to AP.
“My wife, (Mackenzie Kasper) took photos at the tournament (as she has for several years) and we provided those photos to all the newspapers in our coverage areas, as well as our sports information staffs to share. I know Mackenzie's photos ran throughout the week in several newspapers.
“We had more media than we've ever had at a Big Sky Championship,” wrote Kasper. “We had beat writers from the Sacramento Bee (which had never sent reporters to a men's basketball championship), the Moscow paper, two from the Spokesman-Review, the Standard-Examiner, the Pocatello paper, Missoulian, Bozeman Chronicle, Grand Forks paper. All indicated the fact that they knew where the tournament was, and could book travel in advance helped in budget decisions,” wrote Kasper.
“We also had several TV stations on hand, including Pocatello, Salt Lake City, Montana stations. Those writers and TV people were tweeting, sending out photos, etc., on social media, which as you know is much more important for spreading the message than the morning newspaper.
TOURNEY COVERAGE BY RENO PRESS
“It would have been great to have more local coverage of the games from (the Reno Journal Gazette) ... no doubt about it,” wrote Kasper. “But with Nevada men's basketball playing in the conference tournament in Las Vegas, we knew that would be an issue. I can verify that there was someone from the Reno paper sitting courtside for all of the men's games.
“The paper also ran a feature story on a guy named Ned Hirsch, who came from New York City to see our tournament. Ned has seen 315 of the 351 Division I men's basketball teams in his life, and is on a quest to see him all. Really a great story, and a good guy. I know Greg at the Billings Gazette also did a feature story on him, and he was interviewed on radio by Mick.
“During the week, we also had a radio station do a live remote, had Ron Loghry appear on a local morning show, and had at least one TV station come down and do a live interview with Ron,” wrote Kasper.
We did experience some Internet issues, and some issues with our phone lines for radio. Again, first year issues. We were told what the facility could handle, and based on that thought we would be fine. But something you don't know, until you get there. Honestly, internet was an issue every year in Missoula, as well as at Weber State.
Kasper refuted my criticism of Big Sky Sports Information Departments. The information below certainly DOES refute my general criticisms.
CRITICISM OF SCHOOL SIDs
“Each school brought at least two SIDs. They were tweeting, taking photos, cutting highlights through a great new product called SnappyTV. Social media was full of great content from the championship. Many schools no longer fill the need to write long game recaps.
“Look at the below from North Dakota. Yes, the story is only nine graphs. But on this page are links to highlights, interviews, and a photo gallery. This is now the norm for SIDs.
http://www.undsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=58563&SPID=6388&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=210795800&DB_OEM_ID=13500
“Below is a feature story Idaho State wrote. Excellent piece about the tournament experience.
http://www.isubengals.com/news/2016/3/8/womens-basketball-embracing-new-tournament-setup.aspx
THE TOURNEY’S EFFECT ON STUDENT-ATHLETES
“Now, on to the academic side.” wrote Kasper. “I want you to know that each school is represented in our structure by a faculty athletic rep. We had a lot of input from faculty athletic reps regarding this structure, and what the ramifications could mean for missed class time. As you pointed out, some teams were forced to play on the road, and travel directly to Reno. Next year, the roles should be reversed.
“We are awaiting feedback from our schools on the structure, on missed class time,” wrote Kasper. “Changes may very well need to be made, but this is a fact of life for student-athletes. These young men and women understand the importance of finding time to study, take tests, etc. They have amazing work-ethic and learn time-management skills doing what they do.
“I'm not taking away the importance of being in class,” said Kasper. “But today, our student-athletes are able to get lectures on the Internet. Obviously, if student-athletes are missing "Lab" settings, that isn't good. Our women's basketball players year-in-year-out have some of the highest team GPAs in the league.
“Also, something that wasn't reported: We worked with the University of Nevada to set up a place for exams to be proctored during the week. Many student-athletes took advantage of this, and had school reps take them to and from the University of Nevada. Each team also received a "board room" or "team suite" where the student-athletes could go to study, watch lectures, etc.”
IN CONCLUSION:
“Can it get better?” wrote Kasper. “Yes. Every aspect of the tournament can get better and we vow to make that happen.
“Attendance wasn't what we hoped for, but it wasn't as bad as we feared.
“Overall, we were very pleased with the media exposure the first year,” Kasper added. “I haven't even mentioned the numbers that we achieved on our Watch Big Sky platform, and our own web site.
“It was amazing to come back and see videos of bands playing for the team as they walked to the arena, to see the brackets in the hotels, the branding in the hotels, the camaraderie everyone felt.
It was amazing to come back and see videos of bands playing for the team as they walked to the arena, to see the brackets in the hotels, the branding in the hotels, the camaraderie everyone felt.
“I know I'm going on,” wrote Kasper. “ But it's obviously something I'm passionate about. This event consumed my life for the last nine months, so I do want to set the record straight, and it does frustrate me to see people who did not attend knock the event.
“We had a "idea wall" in our work room,” wrote Kasper. “Three big boards full of ideas came back with us.
“We're already starting the planning on next year.”
As briefly as possible, I opposed it for several reasons:
• The regular conference winner has earned the right to host on its home court;
• The host school, city and fans deserve hosting recognition;
• Schools not interested or capable could waive the right to host;
• I’ve supported a smaller, more manageable, 8-team affair with seeds 5-8 hosting seeds 9-12 in pre-tourney qualifiers.
As the tourney approached, I agreed with many voiced questions at eGriz, including questions regarding why a logical centralized location like Spokane or Salt Lake wasn’t considered.
Some coaches (Montana’s Robin Selvig among them) pointed out that student athletes from some schools would miss over two weeks of classes. The Montana Lady Griz and Montana Bobcats women’s team were particularly hard hit.
As the tourney proceeded, poorly attended games, spotty media coverage of games, even worse game photo coverage and even worse coverage by the Reno newspaper (Reno Journal Gazette) made things worse.
In response to some posts critical of my views, I asked for proof that the tourney was indeed successful. I received one reply.
That reply came from Jon Kasper, who is the Big Sky Conference Assistant Commissioner/Championships, and one of the principal organizers of the tourney.
“Personally, it has been hard to go on the message boards and read the negative posts,” wrote Kasper, in an email to me, in which he wrote that he was “very frustrated” reading my posts on the tourney media coverage and asked for an exchange to, “set the record straight.”
Some personal (grizzlyjournal) disclosure here: I was a local (Missoula) sportswriter during the 1980s and did extensive freelance sports photography and freelance Big Sky Conf. (FCS) football and basketball writing between 2004--2012. Jon has always been very generous in granting me, and other freelance journalists, press credentials to all Big Sky events.
My reply to Jon: "Of course."
What follows is a very detailed account of the first Big Sky Conference men’s and women’s basketball tourney in Reno. I have included it in its entirety (with minor reorganization of some material). After reading Jon’s account, I’ve changed several of my opinions and have decided to make a concerted effort to attend next year.
“I know how hard I and our (Big Sky Conference) staff worked to make Reno successful,” wrote Kasper.
“We also knew that we faced an uphill battle with some fan bases -- especially Montana and Weber State -- who have become accustomed to hosting the Big Sky Championship on a regular basis. Our previous format was great for one fan base -- the fans of the team that hosted the championship,” wrote Kasper.
“However, when a host institution has so much control of major event, it creates issues for the other schools and our staff,” wrote Kasper. “We always had complaints -- not just at Montana, but wherever the tournament was -- about the PA announcer, about the music being played, about locker assignments.”
Kasper also stressed that, with the previous tourney format, “It was extremely difficult for parents of student-athletes to travel to places like Missoula, Greeley, Grand Forks on short notice. It was expensive for schools to send cheer, dance, bands and mascots. It put a great amount of stress and pressure on the host institution to secure lodging for x amount of teams on short notice.”
Wrote Kasper: “As far as putting on the actual tournament, no doubt the folks at Montana are top-notch. They do an amazing job.”
But even Montana and Missoula had struggles. “If you remember from a couple of years ago, Missoula hosted an AAU basketball event the same week as our Big Sky Championship,” said Kasper. “Montana had to work extremely hard to find enough rooms for our teams. There wasn't anything left for fans. Some of our teams had to stay at hotels that were not the best in the city. And we had complaints.”
So, a change of tourney format to a neutral city/site, was considered.
“This was a move pushed by our basketball coaches and administrators,” said Kasper, who added that Big Sky Conference commissioner, Doug Fullerton opposed the move, but, Doug works for the presidents and the institutions, as the entire conference staff does.
“We also know it is something we have to build and it wasn't going to be 100 percent successful over time.”
“Our first tournament in Reno was far from perfect,” wrote Kasper, “but we were very happy with the outcome. I honestly believe you had to be there to get the full experience. I spoke with many people who said they would return next year, and would tell folks back home to come down the following year,” wrote Kasper.
“The Big Sky Conference for the first time was able to play on a court with our brand, play with basketballs with our logo, have signage for all 12 Big Sky institutions.
“The fans, student-athletes, and administrators all had overwhelming positive feedback. The hotels are on block from the arena and there are tons of great restaurants, bars, etc., in the hotels/casinos.
“For the first time, we had our basketball fans interacting, our student-athletes interacting,” wrote Kasper. “There was a sense of pride that we'd never seen before, and something we desperately need to help build our basketball brand. I spoke to many parents who had a wonderful experience, so talked about booking travel months in advance, and had the tournament been in Ogden or Bozeman, would not have been able to attend.”
Why Reno?
Kasper stressed that Reno was selected as the site that best matched the goals of the Big Sky.
“Spokane submitted a bid,” wrote Kasper. “But there were issues. One: the women would have been in Cheney except for the championship. Also, the dates would not have worked. Because of the minor league hockey at the big arena in Spokane, they wanted us to play championship games on days that didn't work with our ESPN contract.”
“Salt Lake did not submit a bid,” wrote Kasper. “Ogden did. But that would not have been neutral. We also reached out to Seattle. Key Arena was booked in one of the three years. We also looked at Vegas, (but there was no) location for us to play, and we would not have had a financial guarantee.
“Greeley/Loveland also submitted a bid,” wrote Kasper, (but the) men would have played in Loveland at Budweiser Arena, (and the) women would have been at UNC.
“Reno,” wrote Kasper, “allowed for all 24 teams to play at one facility.”
Regarding many of my written criticisms of the tourney, Kasper responded:
“As far as your concerns about the media: You are correct that we only had an AP photographer there for the championship. That really isn't anything that changed - other than the local paper would send photos to AP.
“My wife, (Mackenzie Kasper) took photos at the tournament (as she has for several years) and we provided those photos to all the newspapers in our coverage areas, as well as our sports information staffs to share. I know Mackenzie's photos ran throughout the week in several newspapers.
“We had more media than we've ever had at a Big Sky Championship,” wrote Kasper. “We had beat writers from the Sacramento Bee (which had never sent reporters to a men's basketball championship), the Moscow paper, two from the Spokesman-Review, the Standard-Examiner, the Pocatello paper, Missoulian, Bozeman Chronicle, Grand Forks paper. All indicated the fact that they knew where the tournament was, and could book travel in advance helped in budget decisions,” wrote Kasper.
“We also had several TV stations on hand, including Pocatello, Salt Lake City, Montana stations. Those writers and TV people were tweeting, sending out photos, etc., on social media, which as you know is much more important for spreading the message than the morning newspaper.
TOURNEY COVERAGE BY RENO PRESS
“It would have been great to have more local coverage of the games from (the Reno Journal Gazette) ... no doubt about it,” wrote Kasper. “But with Nevada men's basketball playing in the conference tournament in Las Vegas, we knew that would be an issue. I can verify that there was someone from the Reno paper sitting courtside for all of the men's games.
“The paper also ran a feature story on a guy named Ned Hirsch, who came from New York City to see our tournament. Ned has seen 315 of the 351 Division I men's basketball teams in his life, and is on a quest to see him all. Really a great story, and a good guy. I know Greg at the Billings Gazette also did a feature story on him, and he was interviewed on radio by Mick.
“During the week, we also had a radio station do a live remote, had Ron Loghry appear on a local morning show, and had at least one TV station come down and do a live interview with Ron,” wrote Kasper.
We did experience some Internet issues, and some issues with our phone lines for radio. Again, first year issues. We were told what the facility could handle, and based on that thought we would be fine. But something you don't know, until you get there. Honestly, internet was an issue every year in Missoula, as well as at Weber State.
Kasper refuted my criticism of Big Sky Sports Information Departments. The information below certainly DOES refute my general criticisms.
CRITICISM OF SCHOOL SIDs
“Each school brought at least two SIDs. They were tweeting, taking photos, cutting highlights through a great new product called SnappyTV. Social media was full of great content from the championship. Many schools no longer fill the need to write long game recaps.
“Look at the below from North Dakota. Yes, the story is only nine graphs. But on this page are links to highlights, interviews, and a photo gallery. This is now the norm for SIDs.
http://www.undsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=58563&SPID=6388&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=210795800&DB_OEM_ID=13500
“Below is a feature story Idaho State wrote. Excellent piece about the tournament experience.
http://www.isubengals.com/news/2016/3/8/womens-basketball-embracing-new-tournament-setup.aspx
THE TOURNEY’S EFFECT ON STUDENT-ATHLETES
“Now, on to the academic side.” wrote Kasper. “I want you to know that each school is represented in our structure by a faculty athletic rep. We had a lot of input from faculty athletic reps regarding this structure, and what the ramifications could mean for missed class time. As you pointed out, some teams were forced to play on the road, and travel directly to Reno. Next year, the roles should be reversed.
“We are awaiting feedback from our schools on the structure, on missed class time,” wrote Kasper. “Changes may very well need to be made, but this is a fact of life for student-athletes. These young men and women understand the importance of finding time to study, take tests, etc. They have amazing work-ethic and learn time-management skills doing what they do.
“I'm not taking away the importance of being in class,” said Kasper. “But today, our student-athletes are able to get lectures on the Internet. Obviously, if student-athletes are missing "Lab" settings, that isn't good. Our women's basketball players year-in-year-out have some of the highest team GPAs in the league.
“Also, something that wasn't reported: We worked with the University of Nevada to set up a place for exams to be proctored during the week. Many student-athletes took advantage of this, and had school reps take them to and from the University of Nevada. Each team also received a "board room" or "team suite" where the student-athletes could go to study, watch lectures, etc.”
IN CONCLUSION:
“Can it get better?” wrote Kasper. “Yes. Every aspect of the tournament can get better and we vow to make that happen.
“Attendance wasn't what we hoped for, but it wasn't as bad as we feared.
“Overall, we were very pleased with the media exposure the first year,” Kasper added. “I haven't even mentioned the numbers that we achieved on our Watch Big Sky platform, and our own web site.
“It was amazing to come back and see videos of bands playing for the team as they walked to the arena, to see the brackets in the hotels, the branding in the hotels, the camaraderie everyone felt.
It was amazing to come back and see videos of bands playing for the team as they walked to the arena, to see the brackets in the hotels, the branding in the hotels, the camaraderie everyone felt.
“I know I'm going on,” wrote Kasper. “ But it's obviously something I'm passionate about. This event consumed my life for the last nine months, so I do want to set the record straight, and it does frustrate me to see people who did not attend knock the event.
“We had a "idea wall" in our work room,” wrote Kasper. “Three big boards full of ideas came back with us.
“We're already starting the planning on next year.”
