The OVC announced it will move its men's and women's basketball tournaments to Municipal Auditorium in Nashville starting next year, with all 8 seeds playing at one neutral site in a 4-day tournament. It is a change from previous tournaments where first round games are played at home sites with the semifinal and final rounds played at the Sommet Center in Nashville.
We as a conference are so excited to have the tournament at Municipal Auditorium starting next year. Not only is it a much more intimate atmosphere, allowing for fans to be closer to the action, but it also allows the basketball tournament to become a centered event in the city of Nashville. We can brand the event as "March to Music City" or "Music City Madness," and brand the Municipal Auditorium as "our" venue. The change helps us with planning and logistics as well because we will be able to know all 16 teams (8 men, 8 women) that will be playing about a week before the tournament starts. As it stands now, because of first round games being played at home sites we don't know the teams traveling to Music City until a few days out. That makes for a much more stressful week!
The bracket also shifts from a 1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7 format and gives first and second seed teams first round byes. A little different than the past, but a lot like some of the tournaments the bigger conferences hold.
Municipal auditorium is also getting a brand-new, finished floor that comes from the 2010 NBA All-Star game, as well as a few more changes around the stadium such as new scoreboards. So, not only can we brand the Municipal Auditorium as "our" stadium, we have more control over the branding inside as well.
Players and fans should be excited for the change all around. We are moving from the large Sommet Center to a much more fitting location for our tournament. More teams means more school's fans, and a more appropriate atmosphere to March Madness! Bring on the fans!
You can see the live blogging from the press conference below:
At 11 a.m. CST we will be holding a press conference in our OVC offices in Brentwood, Tenn. We transformed our conference room into a press conference room, which looks pretty darn good if you ask us! See the transformation here:
Pretty good huh? The press conference will include an announcement from OVC commissioner Beth DeBauche regarding future OVC basketball tournaments. Stay tuned for live updates, and reactions after the announcement!
You can also stream the announcement live, for FREE, here:
10:51:
Press beginning to trickle in! We should be ready to go in a few minutes. Just waiting for Beth to finish up a conference call.
11:01:
Beth DeBauche and General Manager of the Municipal Auditorium just walked in. Assistant Commissioner of Media Relations Kyle Schwartz just introduced the two.
11:04:
DeBauche announces OVC tournament will move to Municipal Auditorium and all 16 teams will play at the neutral site. Tournament will now be 4 days long. The hope is to increase fan support and competitive play.
11:07:
Municipal Auditorium General Manager Bob Skoney up to podium. Says Municipal Auditorium will purchase new floor, bring exciting new changes to auditorium.
11:09:
Q&A's--DeBauche says the new format will allow schools chance to work with fanbase and make the tournament an event in Nashville.
Says there will be more prep work allowed to allow the structure of the 4-day event be stronger.
Says it was a thoughtful, but make-sense decision for the league. Says it enhances OVC basketball and now we can build on progress of making basketball a premier sport for the OVC.
Skoney:
Any improvements (to the auditorium) are good, continues to be improvements, city has backed it whole heartedly, very excited for the change.
Size enhances college basketball atmosphere, more intimate setting, good fit for us for the auditorium.
11:12:
Press conference has ended. DeBauche and Skoney are conducting one on one interviews with members of the press.
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