Ron Loghry Interview...

[PBP]

Ron is the associate commissioner of the Big Sky Conference and I had the chance to interview him live at halftime of the women's game in Ogden.

I'll summarize what he said regarding the conference next season. The majority of what we discussed centered around basketball but there were also a football mention or two. I placed it in the basketball section because the majority of the conversation centered around that:

* Conference discussed 16, 18, 20 and 22 game basketball schedules for next season for both men and women. Decided on 18, unbalanced for the near future for a few basic reasons. 20 and 22 game conference slates were simply too many. 16 didn't provide enough opportunities for home games.

* Conference is looking into ways to try to help provide more home games for BSC basketball teams. Part of the issue according to Ron is that it's gotten to the point now where even smaller colleges and colleges in transition are somehow coming up with big money to buy home games. Cited Grand Canyon State in the WAC, making the transition to that conference, as paying out 90 thousand dollars to get teams to come to their location. Don't know if the BSC could help offset costs to get teams to come to Pocatello, Flagstaff, Grand Forks ect. but that is something that might be looked at.

* Conference did discuss moving to two-six team divisions in men's and women's basketball next season but they couldn't reach a consensus on the best way to divide them up. (PBP:Which dovetails with what I saw at different locations around the internet last year, that geographically they couldn't get schools to agree on how to do this - some schools objected to proposals that were made. Don't know which schools specifically)

* Starting next season both the men's and women's post season basketball tournament WILL EXPAND to eight teams with the addition of Idaho in the league. First round byes are being eliminated. Opening round games will match #1 vs. #8, #2 vs. #7, #3 vs. #6 and #4 vs. #5.

* Conference is in the process of developing a "white paper" to study the possibility of moving the post season men's and women's basketball tournament to a neutral location or locations. Emphasized this is simply a study, NO DECISIONS have been made. Acknowledged the fact that sometimes it is very difficult for some schools to be able to come up with the money necessary to make travel arrangements at almost literally the last moment (i.e. a few days before the tournament starts because the location wasn't determined until the last week or sometimes the last day.)

Regarding football

* Doug Fullerton's idea to try to expand to 14 teams, split into two seven team divisions and have a championship game for the automatic NCAA bid is off the table. They simply can't do something like that in the time frame allotted.

* BSC is now in a holding pattern regarding a possible 14th member. Not actively looking at this time. Conference is taking a 'wait and see' attitude to see what happens down the line regarding potential changes in the NCAA structure for college football. Mentioned that who knows what the landscape will be like a year or two from now, that Idaho and New Mexico State could find themselves having to move again and that the BSC will keep their eyes open for future possibilities.

Ron was a great interview and I appreciate his taking the time to do it.

PBP

 

[Skippy]

Very interesting Mark. A neutral location that would still draw fans might be tough to find. Big Sky basketball fans don't exactly travel in droves. Will be interesting to see what evolves. I was pleased to learn that next year the "rivalry games" like ISU-Weber will move to Saturday. That is much better than playing them on Monday night. It was sad to see only 2047 at the men's game last. We used to get over 4000 for Weber back in the 90s. I'm sure having the game on a Saturday would help attendance some.

 

[PBP]

Brad:

Fans traveling is a valid point to be sure but honestly, it's not like the tournament is drawing 10 thousand a game either is it at a "home" location?

To me what superseeds everything should be a level playing field for the athletes. It is simply not fair in my opinion that some schools can afford to say, buy airplane tickets at almost the last second to go to a location for the tournament while other schools have to take a bus because they can't.

I suspect that impacts performance at the most important time of the season.

Having the tournament at a neutral location would give teams more flexibility as the season moves along to start making arrangements earlier if they think they are going to qualify for it because they know where it's going to be far ahead of time.

Agreed it will be interesting to see what if anything comes out of this 'white paper.'

PBP

 

[Spudhead]

Nice job! It's great to read stuff like this to keep in the know.

Regarding the idea of a neutral floor for a tournament, I think it's possible. BUT, I think the abysmal attendance at the WAC's tourney in Vegas proves it's not going to work well there. I've said before that the thinking needs to be outside the box. Spokane, Boise, Las Vegas, or Salt Lake are areas which are thought of first, but I still think smaller cities which have the capability to host the tournament and are thirsty for an economic event might be better. Cities like Reno, Billings, St. George, Yakima. You get the idea.

Grand Canyon University is a for-profit private school, and it is pretty unique. I'm not sure how big its campus is in Arizona, but they have tens of thousands of online students. I've seen their commercials when I've been working in Florida. They can pay big bucks to attract schools, but they are the exception to the rule. Now that the Bracket Buster is gone, has the Big Sky thought of coming together with conferences like the Big West and/or WAC and have a weekend where the schools play each other? It could be similar to the Bracket Buster, in that a team like ISU hosts one year and then travels the next. It gives the schools a division I opponent. Maybe a Big Sky vs. Summit League weekend? Something like that.

 

[spartan]

perhaps i'm missing something...? why exactly is grand canyon university included in your statement..?

i don't get any connection there..?

 

[PBP]

Sin:

For what it's worth (and I mentioned this prefecing the question to Ron) I've heard from other sources that the 'trickel-down' effect of bigger schools refusing to play road games has now reached the point where many mid-major's are now insisting on doing the same thing as the 'big boys' (i.e. Top 25 basketball schools) in that they simply WILL NOT play true road games. I think Ron used Grand Canyon as an example but that the situation is now more widespread was the point he was making.

So now if mid-major's won't come to BSC home courts, what options are left? Especially when you ad in that there are fewer schools west of the Mississippi to choose from?

Doug Fullerton has been making this a point of emphasis to BSC teams to get more home games but as Brad will tell you from his conversation with Jon Kasper of the BSC (which he posted on-line at one time) it's easier said than done.

Unless the conference somehow kicks in enough money to make it possible for BSC schools to start "buying" home games it may be an impossible box to get out of.

If you offer enough cash, you'll get schools to come to Poky, Greeley, Bozeman and so forth but that's the key...how do you come up with the money?

Perhaps Brad can repost his talk with Jon Kasper which went into more details on this issue.

And remember the dynamics are a little different for men as opposed to women in terms of cash needed to 'buy' home games too.

PBP