re: Slive's love affair with Atlanta

quote:

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Anybody have any attendance numbers on Hoover? Is it really that big of an issue? I have no problem with it being there.

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Is the issue with the venue, or with traveling fanbases who will actually attend the game (this is the argument that Cheese Grits is making concerning the basketball tournament).

For 2013 Attendance (national ranking based on avg attendance, listed is total attendance) data:
1. LSU (~365k)
2. Arkansas (~220k)
3. Ole Miss (~210k)
4. South Carolina (~200k)
5. Mississippi State (~210k)
9. Texas A&M (~130k)
10. Florida (~110k)

12. Alabama (~86k)
21. Auburn (~72k)
24. Vanderbilt (~74k)

31. Tulane (~58k - for reference)
32. Kentucky (~45k)
33. Georgia (~49k)
34. Tennessee (~40k)

According to Cheese Grits' argument, the SEC baseball tournament should be somewhere like Shreveport or Memphis.. more centralized to the schools with actual fanbases. However, the tournament is in a suburb in the middle of Alabama which has limited hotel space, limited outside entertainment options to make it a destination location, and most convenient to schools with middling attendance in the sport in question.

Clearly, there is a breakdown of logic here between what's good for the basketball tournament and what's good for the baseball tournament.