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re: Slive's love affair with Atlanta
Posted on 3/15/14 at 2:06 pm to Govt Tide
Posted on 3/15/14 at 2:06 pm to Govt Tide
quote:I said Shreveport or Memphis. This was without looking up numbers and just generalizing the map in my head. Looking at numbers, LSU, TA&M, and Missouri are the only ones which Shreveport is a faster trip (Memphis is actually a quicker trip for Arkansas), so go ahead and throw Shreveport out.
I would agree with you if you were arguing in favor of Memphis but I'm not buying your logic for Shreveport.
Based on Cheese Grits' argument about proximity to fanbases, Memphis is closer than Hoover for the top 6 baseball attendance fanbases. Hoover is a 4-minute-shorter for the top 7 baseball attendance fanbases, so if you assume that Florida fans will be driving six and a half hours for baseball then this is where the argument for Hoover over Memphis could be made.
After the top 7, Alabama and Auburn come in, which obviously shifts the average travel times. However, considering that both team's total attendance combined doesn't crack the top 5 for the league, we're probably at the point where Cheese Grits' argument kicks in and those fanbases can be disregarded, just as the non-UK and non-UT basketball fanbases can be disregarded.
ETA: These are just driving travel times. This is not addressing the issue of airport access and media access (which was made by another poster in regards to the football championship), which I'm going to assume is greater in Memphis than in Birmingham.
Move the baseball tournament to Memphis.
This post was edited on 3/15/14 at 2:20 pm
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Posted on 3/15/14 at 3:42 pm to CrazyTigerFan
Air access is better out of Memphis than Birmingham only in regards to direct flight to other parts of the country. For the sake of cities in the SEC footprint, they are basically the same. Birmingham has daily non-stops to Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, New Orleans, Orlando, Charlotte, Jacksonville, Tampa, Nashville, Louisville, and Saint Louis which Memphis also has so air travel for the sake of the Southeast U.S. is the same. As for media, the Birmingham TV market is actually larger than Memphis.
There are many reasons Memphis would be a great host for baseball (the facility in Memphis being the biggest reason) but the fact that only LSU, Ole Miss, and maybe on occasion one other school complains about it being in Hoover while every other school likes it there is the reason it probably won't be moving for a long time. The tournament has been wildly successful in Hoover and until that changes there won't be a rush to move it.
There are many reasons Memphis would be a great host for baseball (the facility in Memphis being the biggest reason) but the fact that only LSU, Ole Miss, and maybe on occasion one other school complains about it being in Hoover while every other school likes it there is the reason it probably won't be moving for a long time. The tournament has been wildly successful in Hoover and until that changes there won't be a rush to move it.
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