SEC Tournament- A better idea

[fryeguy93]

If you took an "off-the-record" poll from all 14 coaches; I would guess that 12 would not want to have a tourney at all.

It's silly to give the automatic bid to any team in any conference based on a few days in mid-May instead of the entire season. I believe all the talk about "Hoover, Hoover, Hoover" is overblown hype and it gets more overblown every season. This is more a celebration of SEC baseball than a legitimate tournament. Which leads me to my idea.

Replace the SEC Baseball Tournament with an SEC Baseball Showcase.

Every team playing games in the same metro area over the same long weekend. The metro area must have several quality stadiums capable of putting on big time college games.

Birmingham area has at least three stadiums that the Barons have used in the past. I would love to see UT play at Rickwood
Atlanta has several parks as well including Truist and Coolray in Gwinnett,
Grapefruit League stadiums around
Tampa/Clearwater
Fort Myers
Palm Beach/Port St. Lucie
Fort Myers
Even Knoxville would have LNS, Smokies Stadium and the new ballpark
Dallas has so many parks in area it would a cinch
Charlotte - if NC expansion happens
Raleigh - if NC expansion happens

This would not necessarily need to be the last week of the season either. In Florida, it could even be the opening weekend. Or the teams could take a midseason pause and do this.

A team could play an 11th SEC opponent only in a series, or - and I like this idea better, could play single games against the teams that are not on weekend schedule.

For instance, Tennessee did not play Arkansas, Texas A&M, or Mississippi State this season. Those would be the teams the Vols would play in single games. Starting in 2025, there will be 5 teams that the Vols will not play. That may be too many games in a weekend but you could play 3 or 4 of them.

Second option would be using 4 different cities and having 4 teams go to each city and playing each other. . Think about the pre-conference tourneys where 6 teams play over three days - with three games per day. Select several cities with a single stadiums. If early season, then domes would be best and have 4 SEC teams in each city playing a round robin. Houston, Dallas, Tampa, Miami. This plan would work best for opening conference weekend. However, with 4 different cities, you could hardly call this a showcase event.

 

[savannahfan]

Tourney = money grab by head office.

 

[knoxvol52]

No way conference Tournaments go away. To much money to be made .

 

[feathersax]

No way conference Tournaments go away. To much money to be made .

That, & it's just a terrific way for SEC fans to enjoy each other while seeing the grratest college baseball anywhere. It's those who've NOT been to Hoover that make these inane statements about dropping the SEC BASEBALL Tournament.

 

[knoxvol52]

That, & it's just a terrific way for SEC fans to enjoy each other while seeing the grratest college baseball anywhere. It's those who've NOT been to Hoover that make these inane statements about dropping the SEC BASEBALL Tournament.

Actually I plan on going in the next few years, no matter where it's located in future. My just waiting in my youngest grandson to get old enough to enjoy it.

 

[preacherman20]

As much as I dislike Alabama, I can’t imagine anybody doing it better than Hoover does. I will agree with several others that it is an incredible week of SEC teams and the best baseball in college.

 

[hatingbamaisawayoflife]

Being a Vols fan that lives in Hoover I love the tourney when Tennessee is in it.. otherwise...

 

[WillisWG]

Any insight on the format after TX/OK join the league?

 

[knoxvol52]

Any insight on the format after TX/OK join the league?

Rumor is every team makes tournament but is single elimination whole tournament.

 

[StarRaider]

Rumor is every team makes tournament but is single elimination whole tournament.

That is my understanding from listening to WIlkerson.

 

[volplaya8]

This is no different from basketball. We award automatic bids for winning basketball tournaments as well. Regardless of how you feel on it, if you are capable of navigating Hoover, then you certainly are capable of winning a regional. Just look to NcSt in basketball this year. They would not have made it without the automatic bid and then they advanced to the Final Four. By winning Hoover as well you would not be a bubble team anymore anyway and you would have earned your spot in with or without the automatic bid. With this format of the single elimination, then double elimiantion, then back to single elimination, any team that does that just played one heck of a week of baseball. Going forward it’s a tad bit alarming because it will be all single elimination and a bottom 4 team that would not even earn a spot in Hoover could get an auto bid with only 4 wins. I would have an issue with that. With a 16 team conference and fact even more teams will not play one another during the season I really wish the Sec would got to a 12 week conference schedule. You could eliminate one non conference weekend opponent, then play one opponent during the Hoover week. I know they won’t do this but I probably won’t be attending Hoover much going forward with the new format as well. You get less games involving good teams and your team is always one game from going home. That is a tough sell when you have 6 hrs to drive, hotels to buy etc..

 

[VOLfrombama]

Being a Vols fan that lives in Hoover I love the tourney when Tennessee is in it.. otherwise...

Yep. It gives me a chance to see a couple games when otherwise I probably wouldn't.

 

[vol66]

I agree with others here. I think the folks in Hoover do a great job with the SEC Tournament. From hotels to parking to tickets and everything else.

We all sit here day and night hating every team not Tennessee, but when ya go, everybody seems respectful, jokes are in good fun. If they wanna change it to single elimination to protect the health of the players, okay, but I don’t think moving to different cities is the right idea. JMO.

GBO!!!

 

[NighthawkVol]

If you took an "off-the-record" poll from all 14 coaches; I would guess that 12 would not want to have a tourney at all.

It's silly to give the automatic bid to any team in any conference based on a few days in mid-May instead of the entire season. I believe all the talk about "Hoover, Hoover, Hoover" is overblown hype and it gets more overblown every season. This is more a celebration of SEC baseball than a legitimate tournament. Which leads me to my idea.

Replace the SEC Baseball Tournament with an SEC Baseball Showcase.

Every team playing games in the same metro area over the same long weekend. The metro area must have several quality stadiums capable of putting on big time college games.

Birmingham area has at least three stadiums that the Barons have used in the past. I would love to see UT play at Rickwood
Atlanta has several parks as well including Truist and Coolray in Gwinnett,
Grapefruit League stadiums around
Tampa/Clearwater
Fort Myers
Palm Beach/Port St. Lucie
Fort Myers
Even Knoxville would have LNS, Smokies Stadium and the new ballpark
Dallas has so many parks in area it would a cinch
Charlotte - if NC expansion happens
Raleigh - if NC expansion happens

This would not necessarily need to be the last week of the season either. In Florida, it could even be the opening weekend. Or the teams could take a midseason pause and do this.

A team could play an 11th SEC opponent only in a series, or - and I like this idea better, could play single games against the teams that are not on weekend schedule.

For instance, Tennessee did not play Arkansas, Texas A&M, or Mississippi State this season. Those would be the teams the Vols would play in single games. Starting in 2025, there will be 5 teams that the Vols will not play. That may be too many games in a weekend but you could play 3 or 4 of them.

Second option would be using 4 different cities and having 4 teams go to each city and playing each other. . Think about the pre-conference tourneys where 6 teams play over three days - with three games per day. Select several cities with a single stadiums. If early season, then domes would be best and have 4 SEC teams in each city playing a round robin. Houston, Dallas, Tampa, Miami. This plan would work best for opening conference weekend. However, with 4 different cities, you could hardly call this a showcase event.

You left out Nashville, which has First Horizon Park (where the Vols played some exhibitions this past fall). That's a fairly new park, very nice, and may need a reason to exist in a few years after MLB comes to Nashville and the Sounds move out. Then you also have Hawkins Field and Rose Park (where Belmont plays), and, by 2028, the MLB team's park.

 

[greasemachine]

It may have changed from 2022, but the food at the stadium was just awful. There was a small, local stand inside that had dogs fries, burgers type food and we ate there all week.

 

[VolsLFC]

It may have changed from 2022, but the food at the stadium was just awful. There was a small, local stand inside that had dogs fries, burgers type food and we ate there all week.

There is a pretty good slaw dog place in there. I think it is usually in middle of concourse behind home plate usually. It’s a different vendor than the rest.

 

[Volfan1000]

If you took an "off-the-record" poll from all 14 coaches; I would guess that 12 would not want to have a tourney at all.

It's silly to give the automatic bid to any team in any conference based on a few days in mid-May instead of the entire season. I believe all the talk about "Hoover, Hoover, Hoover" is overblown hype and it gets more overblown every season. This is more a celebration of SEC baseball than a legitimate tournament. Which leads me to my idea.

Replace the SEC Baseball Tournament with an SEC Baseball Showcase.

Every team playing games in the same metro area over the same long weekend. The metro area must have several quality stadiums capable of putting on big time college games.

Birmingham area has at least three stadiums that the Barons have used in the past. I would love to see UT play at Rickwood
Atlanta has several parks as well including Truist and Coolray in Gwinnett,
Grapefruit League stadiums around
Tampa/Clearwater
Fort Myers
Palm Beach/Port St. Lucie
Fort Myers
Even Knoxville would have LNS, Smokies Stadium and the new ballpark
Dallas has so many parks in area it would a cinch
Charlotte - if NC expansion happens
Raleigh - if NC expansion happens

This would not necessarily need to be the last week of the season either. In Florida, it could even be the opening weekend. Or the teams could take a midseason pause and do this.

A team could play an 11th SEC opponent only in a series, or - and I like this idea better, could play single games against the teams that are not on weekend schedule.

For instance, Tennessee did not play Arkansas, Texas A&M, or Mississippi State this season. Those would be the teams the Vols would play in single games. Starting in 2025, there will be 5 teams that the Vols will not play. That may be too many games in a weekend but you could play 3 or 4 of them.

Second option would be using 4 different cities and having 4 teams go to each city and playing each other. . Think about the pre-conference tourneys where 6 teams play over three days - with three games per day. Select several cities with a single stadiums. If early season, then domes would be best and have 4 SEC teams in each city playing a round robin. Houston, Dallas, Tampa, Miami. This plan would work best for opening conference weekend. However, with 4 different cities, you could hardly call this a showcase event.

This proposal would generate a lot of cash for the host cities.

 

[greasemachine]

There is a pretty good slaw dog place in there. I think it is usually in middle of concourse behind home plate usually. It’s a different vendor than the rest.

That could very well be where we went...

 

[VolsLFC]

That could very well be where we went...

Haha - it was better than the other options there (to me). This being said, I’ve learned and usually now carry a sub or something in a cooler and have a few beers in parking lot.

 

[EZE]

Rumor is every team makes tournament but is single elimination whole tournament.

It should be single elimination. Too hard on pitching staffs even at that…but it is at least better.

I’d like to see it stay at the Top-12 teams with Top-4 getting byes. And single elimination all the way.

College baseball staffs aren’t built to play as much as the current format requires. Especially with NCAAs right around the corner.

 

[VolBricks]

right now Vandy is out pitching us in the SEC tournament. KY is done and we may be next.

 

[EZE]

right now Vandy is out pitching us in the SEC tournament. KY is done and we may be next.

Uh…it’s double-elimination

 

[volplaya8]

So the tournament not only moves from having a double elimination portion to full single elimination but goes from a 6 day tournament to just a 4 day tournament. Hoover is going to lose quite a bit of money on hotels, food etc. I think the tournament will have far less attendance going forward with fewer games being played. I know the games are not the most meaningful but the celebration of baseball feel will die off. All good things come to an end I guess.

 

[woodpusher]

So the tournament not only moves from having a double elimination portion to full single elimination but goes from a 6 day tournament to just a 4 day tournament. Hoover is going to lose quite a bit of money on hotels, food etc. I think the tournament will have far less attendance going forward with fewer games being played. I know the games are not the most meaningful but the celebration of baseball feel will die off. All good things come to an end I guess.

is there more than one parK?
Getting 8 games in one day seems impossible if there's only one park.
16 -> 12
12 -> 8
8 -> 4
4 -> 2
2 -> 1

5 days?

 

[volplaya8]

is there more than one parK?
Getting 8 games in one day seems impossible if there's only one park.
16 -> 12
12 -> 8
8 -> 4
4 -> 2
2 -> 1

5 days?

Yeah my bad…5 days…but team never guaranteed to play more than 1 game…guess the teams on day 1 get off day 2…17 games now shortened to 15 which isn’t a huge deal I guess but it is tough to travel when you can never guarantee more than 1 game at a time…I also wouldn’t be thrilled with those 1-16 through 4-13 matchups either…I like the current elimination of the bad teams before the tourney even begins…

Thanks for correcting me on the amount of days! I definitely screwed the pooch there!