Southern Conference officials expect their upcoming men's and women's basketball tournaments to be well-supported in Chattanooga, even though McKenzie Arena's future with the event is uncertain.
Chattanooga hosted the SoCon tournaments for a first time in 2005 and again in 2009. The league will move them next year to Asheville, N.C., which is guaranteed a three-year host run through 2014.
"We haven't really seen the air go out of the balloon in any of our previous stops during the last years that we've hosted tournaments in cities or in the final years of contracts, and I don't anticipate that being the case this time," SoCon senior associate commissioner Geoff Cabe said. "I think it's a good, entertaining tournament, and it's a lot of fun to go to. Cities want to have a good showing in the final year of a contract so that the next time the bid process is available, people around the conference will remember the experience they had the last year they were there."
The 2011 SoCon men's and women's tournaments will be held March 3-7.
Scott Smith, president of the Greater Chattanooga Sports & Events Committee, said a majority of tickets in McKenzie's lower level already have been purchased for the SoCon event. The overall attendance was virtually identical the first two times the SoCon tournaments took place in Chattanooga, with 24,546 fans attending in '05 and 24,639 two years ago.
Last year's attendance of 27,935 in Charlotte was the largest for the league since 34,274 attended the 2000 event in Greenville, S.C.
The league had a marquee player in '09 with Davidson guard Stephen Curry, who helped the Wildcats drub UTC at McKenzie in January of that year before a crowd of 9,234. That was the largest audience for a SoCon game at McKenzie since 1994, but the tournament semifinals less than two months later, which contained Davidson in the first game and UTC in the second, drew just 5,497.
"We didn't think that Curry had much of an impact," Smith said. "We thought he would, but he didn't once the tournament got here. The only thing I can figure is that most of the fans saw him that first time he played the Mocs, because that was a good crowd, and maybe they felt like they had seen him once and didn't have to again."
UTC has won the men's tournament both times it was held at McKenzie, but the championship game crowd of 5,042 two years ago paled to the 7,243 in '05.
Of course, Chattanooga's future with SoCon tournaments will depend more on how they fare next year at the Asheville Civic Center, which housed the event from 1984-1995. That facility is in the process of undergoing $6 million in renovations to enhance its lower-bowl seating, concourse, lighting and scoreboard.
"We hope that our tournament is a hit wherever it is," Cabe said. "That's certainly something we're working toward. I think there is a certain value in other locations around the conference and exposing the conference to other locations in the league. I think that philosophy is still there to some degree, and I don't see this as something that will close the door on competition."
Bidding on the tournaments in 2015 and beyond likely will occur after the second year in Asheville.
While Davidson is not expected to bring nearly the fan support of two years ago to Chattanooga, Cabe expects larger contingents this time around from Wofford, Furman and the College of Charleston. Just how large the attendance gets, however, hinges on the success of the hometown team.
"I would anticipate this year being the same as 2009," Smith said. "It's going to depend on the Mocs making a run to the championship as far as total ticket numbers."
Said Cabe: "I think our tournaments have been supported well the past two trips there, and we anticipate that it will be again."
The '09 SoCon tournaments resulted in an economic impact of $1.3 million, according to Sports Committee figures.