Thursday, February 16, 2012

WIAA Moves State Tournaments to Green Bay

This has been fairly entertaining to follow.

The WIAA Board of Control has voted to accept a bid from PMI Entertainment, which manages the Resch Center, to hold the WIAA state tournaments there as early as next year.

WIAA executive director Dave Anderson confirmed the vote, but said that the Board also authorized him to “clarify the understanding of (UW’s) most recent proposal” regarding the availability of the Kohl Center in 2013 and 2014. The UW has said that it could not guarantee access to the facility due to conflicts with WCHA men’s hockey in 2013 and a possible NCAA Women’s Frozen Four in 2014.

(10) Comments
Posted by Owen at 1635 hrs
Off-Duty

  1. Tough position for the UW - they should certainly put UW athletics ahead of WIAA if there’s a conflict. That said, they really bungled the PR & managed the whole thing poorly.

    I’ll admit to a degree of schadenfreude though. There seemed to be such a sense of entitlement - Soglin’s “going to state is going to state…uh…er…that means Madison” was pretty pathetic.

    When I was in high school, my dreams of going to state in baseball were in any way less than my dreams of going to state in football just because one was in Wausau & the other Madison. Same for kids who dream of making state for track. Of course playing on the same court/field as the Badgers would be a special experience. But I’d compare it to the people who don’t want to know the gender of their child before he/she is born - it’s one of the most amazing experiences of your life knowing that ahead of time or the location of the game isn’t going to diminish it. I got to play in the American Legion Baseball State Tournament. Some of the greatest memories of my life happened there - it was in Fort Atkinson. Not to insult that community (who was a great host), but it could’ve been anywhere else in the state & wouldn’t have diminished my experience one bit.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 16, 2012 at 2149 hrs


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    Posted by . on February 17, 2012 at 0102 hrs


  3. Respectfully, Locke, you miss the point.  Of coruse the kids playing in the tournament don’t care where the games are played.  They play to win and they play wherever.

    But the tournaments are an “event” because thousands of other people with no horse in the race show up to enjoy the weekend—often it is St. Patrick’s Day weekend.

    Are these extra bodies as excited about showing up in Green Bay instead of Madison?  The attendance will plummet if the event is held in Green Bay.

    Compare bar hopping and people-watching on State Street with driving to Shopko in Green Bay.  Absolutely no comparison!

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 17, 2012 at 0957 hrs


  4. Funny… Green Bay seems to work quite well for Wisconsin’s only NFL team and turnout is just fine.

    Posted by Owen on February 17, 2012 at 1002 hrs


  5. Wow, I’ve got my own little follower… smile

    If it were such an “event” for Madison, you’d think they’d have figured out a way to keep in, huh?

    Personally, I don’t really buy that argument at all. My guess is the largest portion are fans of the teams playing. This is especially true considering they’re by session so you have fans for the next game(s) comprising a significant portion of the crowd as well. Add in fans/rivals from their conferences, other athletes & coaches and the media, and the overwhelming majority of whom all will go to the games whether they’re in Madison or Green Bay. Especially with the novelty of the move, I’ll be shocked if walk-in, unaffiliated fans are any less at least for the first handful of years at the Resch. I don’t believe there are thousands of unaffiliated fans who just show up and I don’t believe that the number of those that do will be markedly less especially for while it’s still new.

    I’ve been to both boys & girls state tournaments a number of times. About half of the times were when my HS or kids/family teams were playing & half the times just to see the games.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 17, 2012 at 1049 hrs


  6. There’s plenty to do around the Resch Center.  True, it’s not the State Street freakshow, but I doubt that factors much into anyone’s decision about attending the games.

    I’ve gone to the finals - boys and girls - for better than 20 years, and it won’t bother me at all to go to Green Bay instead of Madison.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 17, 2012 at 1156 hrs


  7. The blowback against a potential move of the tourney to GB has alrerady started.  Check out the LaCrosse Tribune story today which quotes area basketball coaches as being unanimously opposed to the move.  Yes, the Packers draw throngs to Green Bay but the team would draw throngs to Muscoda is the team was named the Muscoda Packers.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 17, 2012 at 1756 hrs


  8. The sky didn’t fall when the Packers quit playing in Milwaukee and the sun will still continue to rise in the east if the WIAA moves tournament play to the Resch Center.

    The only real consideration should be whether the Resch Center fits the needs of the WIAA. The facility is more than adequate, as is parking availability and overnight lodging. It may entail a bit longer bus ride from some parts of the state, but folks will travel for the pinnacle of high school sports.

    Whether or not Green Bay’s night life offerings fit the requirements of non-athlete, non-student, non-parent pub crawlers should not be a site consideration of WIAA officials. A move out of party-town might not be a bad thing at all.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 18, 2012 at 2009 hrs


  9. Funny, I’m sure the fact that Dave Anderson is driving this and that Barry Alveraz fired him as assistant coach in 1990 has nothing to do with this change.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 19, 2012 at 1712 hrs


  10. Funny, I’m sure the fact that Dave Anderson is driving this and that Barry Alveraz fired him as assistant coach in 1990 has nothing to do with this change.

    Maybe…there’s still a board that had to vote on it so it wasn’t just him though. But maybe he’s driven by a personal grudge, I sure don’t know for sure.

    I do know for sure that it was the scheduling conflicts in 2013-14 that drove this issue in the first place. And that the UW/Barry’s original response to that was to tell the WIAA they couldn’t have the Kohl Center for the tournament unless they wanted to move it to Tuesday through Thursday. Neither Dave Anderson nor anyone else at the WIAA had anything to do with that - it was the hand they were dealt. If Barry had a previous relationship with Anderson, that only makes him even more foolish to bluff/slow play him - because he should have known he’d get called on it.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 19, 2012 at 2131 hrs


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