Downtown Cincy is 5 miles away. Can we compare hotel space in that 5 mile radius???

Why would the location hamper attendance? NKU is right off I-471. If you are talking about playing in Northern Kentucky, well Bowling Green has the Girls State Tournament and it isn't really centrally located for us in NKy. I would say that if your school was playing in the All "A" Tournament, the location wouldn't prevent you from attending.

 

My guess is that you haven't heard about the Hotel that will be built on the campus of NKU. I did a search on AAA and found only three motels on the same exit as EKU (Best Western, Comfort Suites, and the Jameson Inn) so my guess is that the Hotel that is proposed to be built on campus will be large enough to Host the Teams playing in the Tournament.

 

As many have said there are tons of hotels at Exit 87 and 90 and even Exit 104 hotels in Lexington are closer than Florence hotels would be to NKU.

 

One hotel is not anywhere near enough to host anything. You have to remember there are 16 Boys teams and 16 Girls teams and all the fans. Try to get a room on the first day of the All-A without a reservation.

 

Plus the location would prevent many from attending. Not everyone can take off work and school for the All-A and the location in Richmond at least allows a large number of people to commute back to school or work each day.

 

I'm not saying its a bad idea, just not practical with the size of the All-A now.

I am neutral on this. I usually attend one session at EKU and probably wouldn't if it was moved to NKU but I appreciate the historical perspective and think the states second largest metro area deserves to be able to host such an event. Overall attendance would probably be hurt though since many of the A schools are in very rural locations.

Im not sure why people think attendance would be hurt. It is just as easy to get to NKY as Richmond. And frankly I dont think there is a significant amount of casual fans that take a week off to attend the All A when the Sweet Sixteen is just around the corner. Fans from the schools will attend if you have it in somebodies backyard or at the HoosierDome. The bulk of attendance is tied to the teams that are represented, which varies from year to year.

 

As for the number of teams that are participating in the All A that has been beat to death on BGP. 125 of 277 schools is too many. Why not add the 13 teams left out and you would have 50%.

Im not sure why people think attendance would be hurt. It is just as easy to get to NKY as Richmond. .

 

So an arena 6 miles from Ohio in the northern-most part of the state is just as easy to get to from all parts of KY as an arena located just about dead-center in the middle of the state?

 

I'm estimating:

 

NKU distance closer for 9th and 10th region

 

NKU/EKU about equal for 8th and 16th

 

EKU closer for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th region

As many have said there are tons of hotels at Exit 87 and 90 and even Exit 104 hotels in Lexington are closer than Florence hotels would be to NKU.

 

One hotel is not anywhere near enough to host anything. You have to remember there are 16 Boys teams and 16 Girls teams and all the fans. Try to get a room on the first day of the All-A without a reservation.

 

Plus the location would prevent many from attending. Not everyone can take off work and school for the All-A and the location in Richmond at least allows a large number of people to commute back to school or work each day.

 

I'm not saying its a bad idea, just not practical with the size of the All-A now.

 

Get your map out?? It's ten minutes to the Erlanger and Ft. Mitchell hotels, and about five minutes to the Newport hotels and ten to the Cincy hotels. Probably several thousand rooms, which should be enough!! As far as being centrally located, so what?? The girl's tourney in Bowling Green isn't central to anything, boy's & girl's golf was in Paducah (Try driving from Ashland to Paducah sometime) this year which is central to only St. Louis!!

The All-A Tournament began as a northern Kentucky event that eventually became statewide. If my memory serves correctly, the All-A was pitched to several locations (BG being one) but Richmond and EKU embraced the tournament in the statewide format and has pretty much helped make the event the success that it is today. To move the tournament back to NKU would be equivalent to what NASCAR did a few years back when it took NASCAR away from ESPN. ESPN helped make the sport what it is today. Richmond and EKU have done similar feats with the All-A.

Get your map out?? It's ten minutes to the Erlanger and Ft. Mitchell hotels, and about five minutes to the Newport hotels and ten to the Cincy hotels. Probably several thousand rooms, which should be enough!! As far as being centrally located, so what?? The girl's tourney in Bowling Green isn't central to anything, boy's & girl's golf was in Paducah (Try driving from Ashland to Paducah sometime) this year which is central to only St. Louis!!

 

There is one hotel in Newport (unless you count the Travelodge....better put the quick team in there to better dodge the gunfire) and the Cincy hotels might be a tad on the pricey side and parking isn't good.

 

As many have mentioned NKU would have to embrace the idea (clear out of the gym for 5 days) provide assistance, and the advertising sponsors would have to be okay with it.

 

I'm not saying it is impossible or should never be considered but you have to be realistic at the obstacles.

The All A has turned into a $$$$$ thing. That's why it is not a true small school tourney anymore. Way too many 2A schools in it. It is really lost it's fire since they started letting so many teams in. QUOTE]

 

 

It has the same requirements today as it did when it started.

The All-A Tournament began as a northern Kentucky event that eventually became statewide. If my memory serves correctly, the All-A was pitched to several locations (BG being one) but Richmond and EKU embraced the tournament in the statewide format and has pretty much helped make the event the success that it is today. To move the tournament back to NKU would be equivalent to what NASCAR did a few years back when it took NASCAR away from ESPN. ESPN helped make the sport what it is today. Richmond and EKU have done similar feats with the All-A.

 

If you want to get technical, after the All "A" moved from Northern KY it went to Lexington. The first few years it was played at Rupp Arena and Memorial Col. , which was great. I had the oppertunity to play in the All "A" when it was at Memorial Col. & coach in a game at EKU. I would prefer it in Lexington. But why not take it back to it's roots.

I don't see how it could be a bad thing. The ladies travel to BG, which is a long way from NKY. Stan Steidel would be proud. The 9th region really needs a bigger venue for it's tournament.

The All A has turned into a $$$$$ thing. That's why it is not a true small school tourney anymore. Way too many 2A schools in it. It is really lost it's fire since they started letting so many teams in. QUOTE]

 

 

It has the same requirements today as it did when it started.

I didn't know that. I guess that everyone's enrollments are just dropping these days!

It's a combination of many small schools consolidating and borderline schools losing students to larger schools.

The girl's tourney in Bowling Green isn't central to anything, boy's & girl's golf was in Paducah (Try driving from Ashland to Paducah sometime) this year which is central to only St. Louis!!

Actually, Bowling Green isn't a bad location. It's pretty accessible for several regions, with the exceptions of maybe the 9th, 10th, 15th and 16th and maybe the 14th.

 

As for golf ... it's been all over the state. It was in northern Kentucky a few years ago, and it's also been in Ashland and Morehead. It is now slated to be in Bowling Green for the next four years.

The All A Classic was played in Memorial Coliseum when it first went statewide because of Scotty Baesler, then the mayor of Lexington. Baesler really pushed to make the All A a big deal.

 

Eventually, the Coliseum posed scheduling problems, primarily because the coach at UK at the time (some dude named Pitino) didn't like his practice facility being overrun by high school games for an entire week. Eventually, the tournament was moved to Richmond.