A10 Moving plus Jon Rothstein on improving the A10

[HoosierPal]

 

[billiken_roy]

must be closer to bernadette's house.    wouldnt want her to overwork.

[BrettJollyComedyHour]

13 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

 

Tourney moving to DC instead of Brooklyn after next year? 

[Pistol]

2 minutes ago, BrettJollyComedyHour said:

Tourney moving to DC instead of Brooklyn after next year? 

I would expect them to announce something relatively soon. They announced sites through 2024 back in early 2019, but nothing past 2024 (Barclays Center) has been made public yet.

[Compton]

Seems like a good move. Out of the backwater and closer to the halls of power. Weird that it was in Newport News in the first place. Maybe a vestige of William & Mary being a football-only member in another era.

[Cowboy II]

-makes sense to me for the league to be close to an airport with more than 4 flights a day 

[wgstl]

Fun fact: Today I learned the A10 HQ was NOT in DC 

[Bay Area Billiken]

This is a good move IMO.

[HoosierPal]

Washington, D.C. has previously served as the host city for the league's signature event, the A-10 Men's Basketball Championship, which was played at Capital One Arena in 2018 and 2022, and will again host the 15-team tournament in 2025.

https://slubillikens.com/news/2023/9/7/billiken-athletics-atlantic-10-conference-headquarters-moving-to-washington-d-c.aspx

[thetorch]

On 9/6/2023 at 1:20 PM, Compton said:

Seems like a good move. Out of the backwater and closer to the halls of power. Weird that it was in Newport News in the first place. Maybe a vestige of William & Mary being a football-only member in another era.

The conference HQ was always in Philadelphia prior to 09.  I forget the reason for moving it at the time but it seemed an odd move.  Nothing the A10 does rarely makes sense.

[SluSignGuy]

This actually seems a little silly to me.

I think too many organizations want to be in DC, which actually really increases operational costs.  I am not sure what advantage being on K street gives a mid-major sports conference.  If they want to be close to an airport or even in a city, there are much cheaper options.

[Pistol]

1 hour ago, SluSignGuy said:

This actually seems a little silly to me.

I think too many organizations want to be in DC, which actually really increases operational costs.  I am not sure what advantage being on K street gives a mid-major sports conference.  If they want to be close to an airport or even in a city, there are much cheaper options.

I've been going back and forth on this for a lot of the same reasons. Overhead - including salaries - will go up, even if travel costs will go down. Flying in and out of DC is as cheap and convenient as anywhere, and that matters both for the A10 employees traveling out but also all the members coming there. But everything else will be more expensive, including that shiny new office space and cost of living adjustments to their payroll.

[wgstl]

8 minutes ago, Pistol said:

I've been going back and forth on this for a lot of the same reasons. Overhead - including salaries - will go up, even if travel costs will go down. Flying in and out of DC is as cheap and convenient as anywhere, and that matters both for the A10 employees traveling out but also all the members coming there. But everything else will be more expensive, including that shiny new office space and cost of living adjustments to their payroll.

put them in a hostel and WFH

[Compton]

3 minutes ago, Pistol said:

I've been going back and forth on this for a lot of the same reasons. Overhead - including salaries - will go up, even if travel costs will go down. Flying in and out of DC is as cheap and convenient as anywhere, and that matters both for the A10 employees traveling out but also all the members coming there. But everything else will be more expensive, including that shiny new office space and cost of living adjustments to their payroll.

Those considerations, combined with the slight but steady westward migration of the conference, would have made Pittsburgh an ideal landing ground.

Baltimore or Wilmington would have been a good East Coast neutral ground options from a cost of living + travel access perspective.

[Box and Won]

I firmly oppose this move.

Nothing could be more on brand for the A10 than having the conference HQ in Newport News, Virginia.

They should host the conference tournament in someplace random like Delaware.

[Pistol]

Having the WBB Tournament in Delaware worked out really well for SLU last year. That looks like a nice venue.

[Box and Won]

6 minutes ago, Pistol said:

Having the WBB Tournament in Delaware worked out really well for SLU last year. That looks like a nice venue.

I totally forgot that they actually DID host a conference tournament in Delaware!

Gotta love our little Great Value brand version of the ACC.

[BrettJollyComedyHour]

2 hours ago, Pistol said:

Having the WBB Tournament in Delaware worked out really well for SLU last year. That looks like a nice venue.

Can confirm, Wilmington is a great little city and the venue is perfect for A10 WBB. Too bad the contract is up after next year. There aren't sources on this but the A10 WBB Tourney Wikipedia page shows the next couple years in some random Richmond suburb in a venue with NOTHING around it.

[Lord Elrond]

So why was the A10 in Newport News in the first place? Never made any sense to me at all, I just assumed it had the cheapest office space that could be found at the time. If anyone knows the real reason why it was there, I’m curious.

[HoosierPal]

Interesting podcast with comments by Jon Rothstein.  Rothstein's talk ends at about half way through (about 25 minutes in).  His top 2 this upcoming season are Dayton and St. Bonnie, with St. Joe a trendy pick for #3.  VCU and Duquesne finish his top 5. 

How to improve the A10 - get more Quad 1 games.  League has to go back to 16 league games and get more high level OOC games.  Easier said than done. Suggested that going up against the Big East on TV Friday nights isn't working.  An idea is to have an A10 Invite at the Palestra, with the top 5 projected teams against high level opponents.  Said Calipari and Izzo would like the chance to coach at the Palestra.  Not high on expanding with Charleston, or any new team.  It is on the A10 office to save the league.

Break out stars:  Eric Reynolds and some of the Bonnie players.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/3-bid-league/id1459413932?i=1000627938136

[Cowboy II]

38 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

Interesting podcast with comments by Jon Rothstein.  Rothstein's talk ends at about half way through (about 25 minutes in).  His top 2 this upcoming season are Dayton and St. Bonnie, with St. Joe a trendy pick for #3.  VCU and Duquesne finish his top 5. 

How to improve the A10 - get more Quad 1 games.  League has to go back to 16 league games and get more high level OOC games.  Easier said than done. Suggested that going up against the Big East on TV Friday nights isn't working.  An idea is to have an A10 Invite at the Palestra, with the top 5 projected teams against high level opponents.  Said Calipari and Izzo would like the chance to coach at the Palestra.  Not high on expanding with Charleston, or any new team.  It is on the A10 office to save the league.

Break out stars:  Eric Reynolds and some of the Bonnie players.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/3-bid-league/id1459413932?i=1000627938136

-I would like to win the lottery is about the same as the A10 should get more hire level OOC games

-I didn't know the BEast was playing on Fridays