SoCon Tournament Venue

[FU Hoopla]

Maybe Ashville will be fine by March, not sure, but thought this was kind of interesting...

Maybe the SoCon will need to move the Tourney to Greenville
Nothing showing March 7-10 at Bon Secours Wellness Arena on the events schedule currently so maybe its available...
https://www.bonsecoursarena.com/events/all

[Roundball]

Maybe Ashville will be fine by March, not sure, but thought this was kind of interesting...

Maybe the SoCon will need to move the Tourney to Greenville
Nothing showing March 7-10 at Bon Secours Wellness Arena on the events schedule currently so maybe its available...
https://www.bonsecoursarena.com/events/all

The SEC Women’s BB Tournament is already scheduled, from March 5 to March 9.

[FU Hoopla]

Maybe Ashville will be fine by March, not sure, but thought this was kind of interesting...

Maybe the SoCon will need to move the Tourney to Greenville
Nothing showing March 7-10 at Bon Secours Wellness Arena on the events schedule currently so maybe its available...
https://www.bonsecoursarena.com/events/all

The SEC Women’s BB Tournament is already scheduled, from March 5 to March 9.

Oh, well dang!
Kind of strange how they don't list it on the events page....

But anyway disregard I guess, hope Asheville will be fine by March, sure as heck don't want them to move it to freaking Spartanburg lol

[PaladinPower]

Charleston, SC would be fun and gets my meaningless vote.

[FU Hoopla]

Charleston, SC would be fun and gets my meaningless vote.

Good place but when it was there in the past it was not well attended at all other than by CofC fans...

[Paladin91]

I'm just not a fan of Harrah's Asheville - it's dumpy as is most of downtown Asheville. The venue needs to be leveled and rebuilt with something modern. It's a shame that the SOCON could not get the tournament in Greenville every year. SEC women have had it in Greenville for a while now. Not sure what kind of revenue the SEC women's tournament brings to Greenville vs the Men and Women's SOCON tourney in Asheville. I imagine it may be similar.

[Roundball]

I'm just not a fan of Harrah's Asheville - it's dumpy as is most of downtown Asheville. The venue needs to be leveled and rebuilt with something modern. It's a shame that the SOCON could not get the tournament in Greenville every year. SEC women have had it in Greenville for a while now. Not sure what kind of revenue the SEC women's tournament brings to Greenville vs the Men and Women's SOCON tourney in Asheville. I imagine it may be similar.

I would expect revenue for the women’s SEC tournament is much higher than the Socon Tournament. For that reason, as long as the SEC calls Greenville home, there is no reason to go after the SoCon Tournament.

[apaladin]

I'm just not a fan of Harrah's Asheville - it's dumpy as is most of downtown Asheville. The venue needs to be leveled and rebuilt with something modern. It's a shame that the SOCON could not get the tournament in Greenville every year. SEC women have had it in Greenville for a while now. Not sure what kind of revenue the SEC women's tournament brings to Greenville vs the Men and Women's SOCON tourney in Asheville. I imagine it may be similar.

Agree Asheville and the civic center are not up to par. The SEC womens probably outdraws the SoCon mens and womens by 3-4 tmes at least.

[Paladin91]

I'm going to be bias because I'm in the Atlanta area, but would love to see the tournament moved to Gas South Arena near Mall of GA in north Gwinnett. Modern, seats up to 13K (can close off top if needed) and pretty central to most SOCON teams. Plus ATL has a sizeable fan base for all SOCON teams. https://www.gassouthdistrict.com/arena

[fupaladin01]

I'm just not a fan of Harrah's Asheville - it's dumpy as is most of downtown Asheville. The venue needs to be leveled and rebuilt with something modern. It's a shame that the SOCON could not get the tournament in Greenville every year. SEC women have had it in Greenville for a while now. Not sure what kind of revenue the SEC women's tournament brings to Greenville vs the Men and Women's SOCON tourney in Asheville. I imagine it may be similar.

Agree Asheville and the civic center are not up to par. The SEC womens probably outdraws the SoCon mens and womens by 3-4 tmes at least.

It's more like 2-1

[Roundball]

I'm just not a fan of Harrah's Asheville - it's dumpy as is most of downtown Asheville. The venue needs to be leveled and rebuilt with something modern. It's a shame that the SOCON could not get the tournament in Greenville every year. SEC women have had it in Greenville for a while now. Not sure what kind of revenue the SEC women's tournament brings to Greenville vs the Men and Women's SOCON tourney in Asheville. I imagine it may be similar.

Agree Asheville and the civic center are not up to par. The SEC womens probably outdraws the SoCon mens and womens by 3-4 tmes at least.

It's more like 2-1

Last years SEC attendance in Greenville was 65,000. I can’t find anything for the SoCon tournament in Asheville, but I expect it was no more than 25,000.

[FU Hoopla]

I'm just not a fan of Harrah's Asheville - it's dumpy as is most of downtown Asheville. The venue needs to be leveled and rebuilt with something modern. It's a shame that the SOCON could not get the tournament in Greenville every year. SEC women have had it in Greenville for a while now. Not sure what kind of revenue the SEC women's tournament brings to Greenville vs the Men and Women's SOCON tourney in Asheville. I imagine it may be similar.

Agree Asheville and the civic center are not up to par. The SEC womens probably outdraws the SoCon mens and womens by 3-4 tmes at least.

It's more like 2-1

Last years SEC attendance in Greenville was 65,000. I can’t find anything for the SoCon tournament in Asheville, but I expect it was no more than 25,000.

In 2022-23 (the year Furman won the Tourney Title) each men's session attendance was as follows:
1st Round
2,765
Quarterfinal Rounds
4,851
3,995
Semifinal Round
5,367
Championship
6,102

[fupaladin01]

AI Overview (Google)

…The Southern Conference (SoCon) basketball tournament in Asheville, North Carolina typically attracts over 30,000 fans over the course of the weekend. The tournament is held at Harrah's Cherokee Center, which can accommodate up to 7,674 people. The 2025 tournament will take place from March 7–10.
The attendance for the 2023 SoCon basketball championship game between Furman and Chattanooga was 6,102. The game was held at Harrah's Cherokee Center in Asheville, North Carolina on March 6, 2023.

Via Google AI:
The 2024 SEC Women's Basketball Tournament in Greenville, South Carolina set new all-time records for the tournament with 64,905 total attendees and 13,163 fans for the championship game:
2024 SEC Women's Basketball Tournament
Total attendance
64,905
Championship game attendance
13,163

65,000 (a record) divided by 30,000(avg) = 2.166

13,163 (a record) divided by 6,102 = 2.157

Thus, aproximately 2-1 ratio

[FU Hoopla]

JD says Asheville will be good to go by March...

[apaladin]

There is no way the Asheville Civic Center “can accomodate 7,674” for basketball. Maybe for a concert when they can use the floor. I was there for one of Elvis’ shows in ‘75 and all 3 shows had attendance of 7,437 sold out and packed.