The MAAC is at a crossroads. The debate comes up every year, the fact that the MAAC Tournament is hosted year after year at Siena’s home floor at the Times Union Center in Albany. It’s a debate MAAC fans have year in and year out, but truly, Albany is the best place to have the MAAC Tournament.
Multiple reports came out this week and were acknowledged by conference commissioner Rich Ensor that the tournament held each March possibly may leave Albany after 2019, the last year of the current contract. The possible future hosts included Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey and the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island.
This, however, would be a mistake. When the MAAC Tournament is held in Albany, there has been consistently good attendance. A whopping 31,901 people attended the 2017 tournament in Albany, just below the number of 33,705 for the 2016 edition. The last time the MAAC Tournament was not held in Albany is was held in Springfield, Massachusetts from 2012-14. In those three years, the average attendance was 14,984. Certainly not a terrible number for a mid-major tournament at an arena where the closest school, Quinnipiac, is 57 miles away. They only joined the MAAC in 2013. Before that, it was Fairfield, 87 miles away from Springfield. In defense of the MAAC, Springfield was a good idea in theory, with the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, might have been something to draw fans in. They also had a one-year experiment in Bridgeport, Connecticut. That did not go well and one would think the tournament will never be held there again.
What is the MAAC thinking of moving it again? Do they not think it will end up like the past two experiments, both flops? With Atlantic City, it’s an interesting idea… if it was 1995. Atlantic City has been left for dead for the past 10 years, many of the casinos are closed, the city is close to a ghost town. Sure, Boardwalk Hall is pretty on the inside and out, but it’s nearly 90 years old and it’s not close to the venue that the MAAC wants if they want to be taken seriously.
However, the idea of having the tournament on Long Island at the Nassau Coliseum is an interesting one. The building is fresh off a renovation and has a solid capacity at 13,500 for basketball. It’s 19 miles from New York City, so they have that on their side. It’s in the best interest of the MAAC to have fans be able to do something with their time on the days they don’t go to the tournament, so they could in theory go into New York City. However, what if you don’t, and want to stay in the immediate area? In the immediate surroundings of the arena, it’s parking lots and expressways as far as the eye can see. The arena is holding a MAAC tripleheader on Saturday to try to gauge interest in the MAAC and figure out if it’s a real possibility for the conference tournament. There’s a lot of teams down in that area; Iona and Manhattan as well as Rider, Fairfield, Monmouth and Quinnipiac to a degree. However, you have to take Canisius and Niagara into consideration. It’s a cool seven hours from Buffalo to Long Island. They used to have the same issue when it was a rotation between Albany and Buffalo as hosts. It was a disadvantage for a lot of the teams to go to Buffalo, and it will be a disadvantage to those two to have to go seven hours for their conference tournament, which is a grind in and of itself for those five days.
With Albany, you have the best of all the worlds. The Times Union Center is in downtown Albany with things to do and places to stay aplenty. It’s pretty central for all 11 of the MAAC’s members, making it ideal for travel. Also, if you look at the history of MAAC Tournament winners, Siena does not dominate year in and year out. Sure, they won it three years in a row from 2008-10, but that was because they had star players and some of the best teams that the conference has seen in recent memory. Siena has been eliminated by Iona in each of the last three years in the conference tournament, and while they have advanced to at least the semifinals in each of the past two years, it’s tough to see it as a real advantage for them. The MAAC does a good job in making it as neutral as it can be. Siena has to stay in a hotel during the tournament, just like all the other teams, so it’s not that. Being used to the arena? Maybe. But for the MAAC to be seen as a serious conference, they have to have the league tournament as the best possible place, and the Times Union Center provides that opportunity.
