WCC Tourney in "Sin City"

[Deleted]

Rumblings of moving the WCC tourney to a neutral site. Specifically the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas!

This would be good news for Pepp and LMU because LV is a quick trip for us (and a lot more fun than Spokane).

Years ago, the league set up a regional rotation, Mike Gilleran, commissioner of the WCC said.

Currently, the tournament location goes from Southern California to Northern California to the Northwest. It is a two-year rotation, meaning the tournament is held in Southern California for two years then in Northern California and so on. Ideally, this system would give each school in the conference a chance to host.

However, the University of San Francisco, Loyola Marymount University and Pepperdine University do not have the appropriate facilities to host the tournament and thus never play on their home court.

"A tournament was supposed to be hosted at USF," Athletic Director Mike Roth said. "They had hoped to make some enhancements [to their gym] and were not able to do so."

Neither Pepperdine nor LMU is able to host at the level each wants to, Roth said.

Once the McCarthey Athletic Center was built, the Bulldogs were able to host the tournament at the level appropriate for the WCC tournament.

Vegas might even attract more students and WCC fans. I think it's a great idea.


media.www.gonzagabulletin.com

[fanblade]

The Orleans Arena is a spectacular venue. I think it would be very good to see the WCC tourney there, I just wonder if we'd be able to fill it for the TV cameras and to keep a festive atmoshpere.

The arena holds about 9-10K comfortably but that's a tall order for our small schools none of which are located in Nevada!

Arena Football Team, the Las Vegas Gladiators, have recently made plans to move out of UNLV's dated arena to the Orleans as well.

I like this idea.

[ironlions]

I think it would be a really smart move by the WCC to hold the conference tournament in Vegas. I think the number of WCC fans that attended would increase greatly.
I hope this plan comes to fruition.

Go Lions!

[GDaleZag]

Maybe, for once, we could really get some fan rivalry going. Having been at the last 2 conference tourneys, including every game last year, it seems that not everyones fans are willing to make the trip all the way up, or down, the coast. Hopefully Vegas will fill up both sides of the stands.

[ironlions]

SD is a nice location for the tournament. Portland seems to be a big bust as a location.

Go Lions!

[fanblade]

I watched an AFL game at the Orleans on TV the other day. The Las Vegas Gladiators are a nightmare this season and I'd say there were probably around 2,000 people in attendance (announced 5,000).

The arena didn't look as empty as it probably was because the upper deck was closed off. I think the WCC should be able to coral at least 3,000 people for TV games so things shouldn't look too bad for the cameras if the move is made.