NCAA regionals -- identical courts?

[tommytimp]

Anybody remember when the NCAA was so bass-ackward they had to truck in the Indiana court for the 1978 Final Four in St. Louis?

Ah branding, thy name is "80s."

Topic? Why doesn't the NCAA just build 4 identical venues in four geographically desirable locations, and they can put the matching courts right in there. That would be great.

[sacker12]

The template is so boring. I wouldn't mind all of the regional courts using the same template if it was a better looking one.

[mjrbaseball]

I liked it when they tried to mask an NBA court, and especially when it didn't quite work. Years ago - maybe when they first started having tournament games at the Meadowlands, the one end said NEW JERSEY NETS, and they just pasted a blue rectangle over the last word (the blue didn't even match the regular blue background) so it looked like NEW JERSEY _____.

[fufkin]

I read in the Sports Business Journal that part of the package for players participating in the final four was a piece of the court...huh.

When Michigan State won in 2000, they exercised their option to buy the floor they won the title game on and brought it back to their home arena (repainted and re-branded).

I'd need to research this further, but I am pretty sure most recent champions have bought the floor they won their title on. I brought this up earlier in the thread, and it was correctly reported [EDIT: big thank you, fufkin] that the winning school must pay for the floor, but the cost of the floor is easily made up. If the school chooses to redesign the winning floor for use at their home gym (like Michigan State, 2000), they can cut up the old Breslin Center floor and sell it off in chunks to alums and fans who want a piece of East Lansing in their homes. On the other hand, the school can simply take the winning floor (UNC, 2005 - but I KNOW others have gone this route, while MSU is the only example of the former that I know of), hack it up and sell THAT winning floor off to alums and fans. (UNC also did this when they replaced the floor at Carmichael Auditorium a few years back, not connected to any particular championship, but rather water damage.) Either way, I'm willing to bet the winning school does no worse than break even, and probably takes in a little extra cash as a result of selling off a floor.

I believe the purchase price for the floor is around $75,000. If you cut the floor up into 5,000 pieces and charge $50 a piece, that's a nice little return on the investment. Keep in mind that the floor at the Final Four is larger than a floor normally used in an arena. The floors used in domes have wider sidelines than those found in an arena.

[dfwabel]

For the 2006 Final Four, the NCAA reach agreement with Connor Sport Court, Inc. As part of the agreement, Connor supplies courts for the volleyball (Sport Court) and basketball (wood flooring) championships. Starting this year and until 2010, Connor will also supply courts for the Men's Regionals. These court at the Final Four, in addition to the courts supplied for Hoops City, the NCAA's version of a fan experience, can be puirchased from Connor. Designs were determined by the NCAA.

[Bucks6thMan]

They'd use a pre-made court, but the thing here is that I don't think arenas like HP Pavilion have a court of their own because NOBODY plays there.

I think all arenas have some kind of court, even if no one plays there. The Dane County Coliseum (or whatever it's called now) in Madison has a floor even though the only basketball games that are ever played there are the Wisconsin Girls b-ball championships. I'd think the HP Pavilion, being a much larger, higher-profile arena could afford to keep one too.

[Rick Shanley]

Nice...

[therebelas]

It also allows for the corporate sponsor of the arena to appear on the court (rightfully so since they are paying millions to slap their name on the arena). That's not the case in the 1st and 2nd rounds as I believe the advertising and any NBA logos are covered up.