Ren-Col news

[tornado]

Bradley's Renaissance Coliseum has put in a bid to IHSA to host all four classes of the girls' basketball Finals
They will compete Normal's Redbird Arena for the State Championships from 2016-2020

On the boys' side - three sites are bidding to host in 2016-2020 - Peoria Carver Arena, Champaign U of I Assembly Hall (State Farm Center) and the Sears Center arena at Hoffman Estates (bidding only to host the large school 3A/4A Finals)

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2015-01-05/three-sites-running-ihsa-boys-basketball-state-finals.html

[tornado]

Of the three venues competing for the rights to host the Boys 3A/4A there's a ton of debate in the various newspapers around the state...

Peoria is the safe choice because we know they do a great job and have been doing a great job for a long time


Champaign is the trendy choice but can they do as good of a job as Peoria has done - those who recall back when it was in Champaign before 1996 and they didn't do nearly as good of a job as Peoria has done the past two decades, plus Champaign simply does NOT have the restaurants & hotels within walking distance or just beyond like Peoria does.
BUT - when IHSA did an informal survey - over 100 IHSA coaches responded - Champaign was the vote-winner among people who responded to the Sun Times survey.

http://highschoolcubenews.com/2015/01/09/henricksen-bids-survey-results-champaign-beats-peoria/

From the results of the survey - it is pretty obvious people just want it closer to where they are...so all the Chicago people favor bringing it to Chicago or favor Champaign over Peoria....


Hoffman Estates is a late entry in the race but I think they will fail as all the downstate schools and fans wouldn't want it there and it might help kill downstate interest which is already lagging...

[Vent]

Of the three venues competing for the rights to host the Boys 3A/4A there's a ton of debate in the various newspapers around the state...

Peoria is the safe choice because we know they do a great job and have been doing a great job for a long time


Champaign is the trendy choice but can they do as good of a job as Peoria has done - those who recall back when it was in Champaign before 1996 and they didn't do nearly as good of a job as Peoria has done the past two decades, plus Champaign simply does NOT have the restaurants & hotels within walking distance or just beyond like Peoria does.
BUT - when IHSA did an informal survey - over 100 IHSA coaches responded - Champaign was the vote-winner among people who responded to the Sun Times survey.

http://highschoolcubenews.com/2015/01/09/henricksen-bids-survey-results-champaign-beats-peoria/

From the results of the survey - it is pretty obvious people just want it closer to where they are...so all the Chicago people favor bringing it to Chicago or favor Champaign over Peoria....


Hoffman Estates is a late entry in the race but I think they will fail as all the downstate schools and fans wouldn't want it there and it might help kill downstate interest which is already lagging...

One thing nobody has mentioned. Urbana originally went in on the bid with Champaign. Once they saw how the attendance figures and revenue had dropped to the hotels and restaurants, since the IHSA went to four classes, they pulled out of the bidding and left the bid to just Champaign. The Chamber of Commerce and City Fathers could not justify, spending the amount of money it would take to bring a shadow of the tournament back to Champaign-Urbana. The four class system has ruined the tournament. The IHSA will not list the attendance in the paper, since it went to the four class system. Now, with only four teams per class coming to the tournament, teams check out of their hotel rooms on Saturday morning, before they play for the 3rd/4th and Championship game. Under the old format, teams would have to play in the afternoon and come back and play in the evening. That meant schools and fans stayed around Peoria for the whole day, spending money at the mall, restaurants, and even stay in a hotel on
Saturday night after their team played. The hotels are not selling out since the four class system came into existence. It's another way the IHSA wants to be sure everyone gets a ribbon. My solution is go back to bringing eight teams instead of four to the state finals and go back to the old scheduling format. Bring the 1A and 2A schools back to Peoria (they bring bigger crowds) and let the 3A and 4A schools go to Hoffman Estates.

[tornado]

an interesting discussion over on the Evansville board...
in the 1990's Evansville regularly drew 8,000, 9,000, even well over 10,000 - they even peaked with one season averaging almost 11,500!!!
Att. was still 8,500 when they won the MVC in 1998...

then they made some very unpopular moves - fired a couple head coaches, recruited poorly and their attendance HAS NEVER RECOVERED....
scary...........now they're lucky to get 4000


btw - one other rumor on the Evansville board - something that was even talked about last spring - big man Egidijus Mockevicius is hearing from European teams and may choose to go pro after this season if the offer is right...

[LongTimeFan]

What class is he in?

[Da Coach]

He's is still just a junior. And rumors arose last spring that he may be leaving UE, but they were never true.
I would seriously doubt he would leave early to go play pro. I believe he'll stay for 4 years.

[tornado]

Bradley's Renaissance Coliseum has put in a bid to IHSA to host all four classes of the girls' basketball Finals
They will compete Normal's Redbird Arena for the State Championships from 2016-2020...

one story that was kinda lost in the BOYS IHSA news this past weekend
..is the fact that Bradley lost their bid to host the GIRLS State Basketball Finals...

Normal (currently Redbird Arena) has hosted the Girls Finals since 1992 but Bradley submitted a competing bid this time.
However - mixed in with the news that Peoria's Civic Center won the BOYS bid thru 2020...

is the news that Bradley's Renaissance Coliseum lost out to Redbird Arena for the girls bid thru 2020

http://www.ihsa.org/IHSAState/IHSAStateArticles/tabid/768/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/643/IHSA-State-Basketball-Tournaments-Will-Return-to-Redbird-Arena-Carver-Arena.aspx

That is unfortunate because I think Peoria could have done every bit as good of a job - maybe better!
Wonder how all the NEGATIVE press about the traffic situation up there at Ren-Col must have hurt them.
(another big thank you to Peoria City Engineers and Councilman Chuck Grayeb - wish we still had Gary Sandberg)

If you saw any of the GIRLS State Finals - the arena was NEVER even half full so I am confident that the size of the arena would have little impact on who should host.
(in fact the IHSA folks were so embarrassed their declined to release attendance figures or even discuss them)

[CubbieBear]

The RC would have had ample capacity to host the IHSA girls tourney--that was not an issue in the decision for them to stay at ISU. I do agree though that all the (accurate) negativity about the traffic debacle created at Main & University could have been factored in

I have attended several of the girls tournament games over at B/N over the past few years as friends of ours have had daughters playing in the tourney. B/N is a great easy access location--and all of the B/N community--hotels--restaurants--uptown area--and ISU have really rolled out the red carpet for the girls tourney. It is a very positive atmosphere at a great facility for fans & players--so I can understand why they want to stay.

[Vent]

one story that was kinda lost in the BOYS IHSA news this past weekend
..is the fact that Bradley lost their bid to host the GIRLS State Basketball Finals...

Normal (currently Redbird Arena) has hosted the Girls Finals since 1992 but Bradley submitted a competing bid this time.
However - mixed in with the news that Peoria's Civic Center won the BOYS bid thru 2020...

is the news that Bradley's Renaissance Coliseum lost out to Redbird Arena for the girls bid thru 2020

http://www.ihsa.org/IHSAState/IHSAStateArticles/tabid/768/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/643/IHSA-State-Basketball-Tournaments-Will-Return-to-Redbird-Arena-Carver-Arena.aspx

That is unfortunate because I think Peoria could have done every bit as good of a job - maybe better!
Wonder how all the NEGATIVE press about the traffic situation up there at Ren-Col must have hurt them.
(another big thank you to Peoria City Engineers and Councilman Chuck Grayeb - wish we still had Gary Sandberg)

If you saw any of the GIRLS State Finals - the arena was NEVER even half full so I am confident that the size of the arena would have little impact on who should host.
(in fact the IHSA folks were so embarrassed their declined to release attendance figures or even discuss them)

It's not just the girls tournament. When is the last time you saw attendance released for the boys tournament? The IHSA has not allowed the attendance to be released publicly since the first year of the change to 4 classes. It has nothing to do with where it is located, otherwise Peoria and Bloomington would not have been rewarded with another contract.