While the City of Orlando and the Central Florida Sports Commission are the ones that gave guaranteed $$$ to secure the 2016 and 2018 AAC Tournaments at Amway...after this current tournament is completed, what are the odds that the AAC will take away the 2018 Tourn and/or the City of Orlando wants to give it back so they don't lose more $$?
While early games in any city normally don't draw well (in Memphis or Hartford, etc...), there is almost no way for any tournament to be successful without a large/local fan base (who spend $$ on all tournament passes)...and there are so few of those in AAC.
Many have pushed for a "right size" arena (i.e. not a 18,000-20,000 seat NBA/NHL arena) similar to the Palestra in Philly...but now the Ivy League just announced that they will have their first Ivy League Final Four tournament over 2 days starting next year at the Palestra.
In 2017-2018, Univ of Cincinnati will be completing their $87 Million arena renovation project of their renovated on-campus Fifth Third Bank Arena that season with a new lower capacity of 10,818 with scores of high revenue premium seating...finally turn it into a real "basketbal" arena and most likely, maybe record season ticket sales.
UC's current Fifth Third Bank Arena is a giant box with mostly upper level bleacher seating and very few courtside section seating (especially for a "large" arena of 13,176).
Here's what UC's current Fifth Third Bank Arena looks like (13.176 capacity):
New UC Fifth Third Bank Arena after $87 Million Renovation (10,818 capacity)
While early games in any city normally don't draw well (in Memphis or Hartford, etc...), there is almost no way for any tournament to be successful without a large/local fan base (who spend $$ on all tournament passes)...and there are so few of those in AAC.
Many have pushed for a "right size" arena (i.e. not a 18,000-20,000 seat NBA/NHL arena) similar to the Palestra in Philly...but now the Ivy League just announced that they will have their first Ivy League Final Four tournament over 2 days starting next year at the Palestra.
In 2017-2018, Univ of Cincinnati will be completing their $87 Million arena renovation project of their renovated on-campus Fifth Third Bank Arena that season with a new lower capacity of 10,818 with scores of high revenue premium seating...finally turn it into a real "basketbal" arena and most likely, maybe record season ticket sales.
UC's current Fifth Third Bank Arena is a giant box with mostly upper level bleacher seating and very few courtside section seating (especially for a "large" arena of 13,176).
Here's what UC's current Fifth Third Bank Arena looks like (13.176 capacity):
New UC Fifth Third Bank Arena after $87 Million Renovation (10,818 capacity)
