Post by lilred on Dec 26, 2006 11:09:45 GMT -5
Saturday, Dec 23, 2006 - 12:14:55 am CST
Even the weather cooperated to make last weekend’s NCAA volleyball final four in Omaha one for the record books.
“I’ve described it as the antithesis to Murphy’s Law,” said Kathy DeBoer, executive director of the American Volleyball Coaches Association. “If it could go right, it did.”
From the above-average temperatures, to the record crowds and hometown team, to a championship match that was as captivating as any played all season, Omaha’s final four should serve as a springboard for the sport on a national level.
Will that happen? Maybe.
Will it happen if Omaha becomes the annual stopping-off point for the NCAA Championship? Probably not.
Once again, all that needs to happen for volleyball to truly emerge as a national sport was masked last week, this time by talk of Omaha becoming a permanent host to the championship.
With all the tickets sold in minutes and every seat at Qwest Center Omaha filled for the final four, it’s easy to understand how such a conversation gets started. But unless you’ve followed volleyball outside Nebraska, you probably don’t know that the sport needs so much more than a red-clad crowd in Omaha every December.
Its image of irrelevance can’t be made over by Ty Pennington, Frederic Fekkai, or even, the loyal and fervent fans of Nebraska.
Volleyball needs to build an audience in other places so a second-round UCLA-Utah match doesn’t draw 832 fans and leave 12,000 empty seats at Pauley Pavilion.
It needs to build a fan base elsewhere so that ESPN will consider airing regular-season matches, or more importantly, promoting the NCAA finals to even a fraction of what the network does in letting viewers know about the women’s basketball tournament or the Women’s College World Series.
It takes an audience to be a great sport, and while those 17,000 fans at Qwest Center Omaha made last weekend a great event, their attendance likely won’t do anything to make it a great sport someplace else.
To do that will take coaches as dedicated to selling their program to fans as they are to recruits.
It will require continuing to market the final four around the country, because, as Washington coach Jim McLaughlin said, if they can do it right in Omaha, why can’t they do it someplace else?
“Let’s set our sights that we can sell out the building other places,” DeBoer said earlier this week. “And if that means going out eight times to get a corporation or a local business to buy tickets, you go out eight times. That’s what it is going to take.”
Parking the final four in Omaha, where it returns in 2008, would be the easy way out. But who then would be out there selling the sport?
Volleyball must build on the success of Omaha, but not just by pointing to the numbers. The sport will grow when fans all over the country recognize the athleticism and intrigue involved.
It will grow only when all coaches adopt the philosophy of Florida’s Mary Wise, who spent a month last summer knocking on doors of Gainesville businesses asking them to support a regional six months away by buying tickets.
Flying home from Florida, I overheard a gentleman who had been given tickets to the regional final between Nebraska and Minnesota and couldn’t get over how exciting it was.
Volleyball will grow when those folks are turned on to turning on a volleyball match on TV. Saturday’s final drew a 0.73 share, which ranked behind the NCAA Division II football championship on ESPN2, but by comparison, is considered a “very, very strong rating,” DeBoer said.
Rest assured, volleyball’s final four will always have Omaha on its list of destinations, but it needs to flourish in other cities.
It’s possible that Omaha’s success will deter others from bidding for future championships, but if they’re intimidated, they wouldn’t be good for the sport in the first place.
Mid-sized cities with destination, not drab, venues, must come forward with competitive bids. Cities where a women’s championship is looked at as a big deal and not looked down upon by a market jaded by the aura of professional sports.
With a new arena coming online in Kansas City, Mo., in the next few years, I could see a final four making a mark there. Sacramento, Calif., with a significant Asian population, might be a great site next year.
There must be others.
“This had all the earmarks of an event where five years from now we can look back and say it all started in Omaha in 2006,” DeBoer said. “But I think, realistically, we’re going to have to put back-to-back successes together.”
Are there other suitable cities that will take a risk after what blossomed in Omaha? Only time will tell.
But this is no time to park in Omaha and have time stand still.
end of article
In addition, an online poll was taken by the Lincoln Journal Star (albeit unscientific) and the question was:
What would be the best Christmas gift for a Husker fan?
Volleyball Final Four received a whopping 8% of the vote.
This was beaten by such things as:
Alex Marics returning for his senior season 10%
(mens basketball, which annually ranks from the middle to the bottom of the Big 12)
Dane Todd getting a carry in the Cotton Bowl 42%
(NU fullback, who has become almost obsolete in the new offense, except for blocking. Very smart kid though)
Trip to the College World Series for the baseball team 40%
So the point is, even most NU fans and sportswriters are against having the Final Four held perm. in Nebraska. A similiar article I beleive was written in the Omaha World Herald.
Even the weather cooperated to make last weekend’s NCAA volleyball final four in Omaha one for the record books.
“I’ve described it as the antithesis to Murphy’s Law,” said Kathy DeBoer, executive director of the American Volleyball Coaches Association. “If it could go right, it did.”
From the above-average temperatures, to the record crowds and hometown team, to a championship match that was as captivating as any played all season, Omaha’s final four should serve as a springboard for the sport on a national level.
Will that happen? Maybe.
Will it happen if Omaha becomes the annual stopping-off point for the NCAA Championship? Probably not.
Once again, all that needs to happen for volleyball to truly emerge as a national sport was masked last week, this time by talk of Omaha becoming a permanent host to the championship.
With all the tickets sold in minutes and every seat at Qwest Center Omaha filled for the final four, it’s easy to understand how such a conversation gets started. But unless you’ve followed volleyball outside Nebraska, you probably don’t know that the sport needs so much more than a red-clad crowd in Omaha every December.
Its image of irrelevance can’t be made over by Ty Pennington, Frederic Fekkai, or even, the loyal and fervent fans of Nebraska.
Volleyball needs to build an audience in other places so a second-round UCLA-Utah match doesn’t draw 832 fans and leave 12,000 empty seats at Pauley Pavilion.
It needs to build a fan base elsewhere so that ESPN will consider airing regular-season matches, or more importantly, promoting the NCAA finals to even a fraction of what the network does in letting viewers know about the women’s basketball tournament or the Women’s College World Series.
It takes an audience to be a great sport, and while those 17,000 fans at Qwest Center Omaha made last weekend a great event, their attendance likely won’t do anything to make it a great sport someplace else.
To do that will take coaches as dedicated to selling their program to fans as they are to recruits.
It will require continuing to market the final four around the country, because, as Washington coach Jim McLaughlin said, if they can do it right in Omaha, why can’t they do it someplace else?
“Let’s set our sights that we can sell out the building other places,” DeBoer said earlier this week. “And if that means going out eight times to get a corporation or a local business to buy tickets, you go out eight times. That’s what it is going to take.”
Parking the final four in Omaha, where it returns in 2008, would be the easy way out. But who then would be out there selling the sport?
Volleyball must build on the success of Omaha, but not just by pointing to the numbers. The sport will grow when fans all over the country recognize the athleticism and intrigue involved.
It will grow only when all coaches adopt the philosophy of Florida’s Mary Wise, who spent a month last summer knocking on doors of Gainesville businesses asking them to support a regional six months away by buying tickets.
Flying home from Florida, I overheard a gentleman who had been given tickets to the regional final between Nebraska and Minnesota and couldn’t get over how exciting it was.
Volleyball will grow when those folks are turned on to turning on a volleyball match on TV. Saturday’s final drew a 0.73 share, which ranked behind the NCAA Division II football championship on ESPN2, but by comparison, is considered a “very, very strong rating,” DeBoer said.
Rest assured, volleyball’s final four will always have Omaha on its list of destinations, but it needs to flourish in other cities.
It’s possible that Omaha’s success will deter others from bidding for future championships, but if they’re intimidated, they wouldn’t be good for the sport in the first place.
Mid-sized cities with destination, not drab, venues, must come forward with competitive bids. Cities where a women’s championship is looked at as a big deal and not looked down upon by a market jaded by the aura of professional sports.
With a new arena coming online in Kansas City, Mo., in the next few years, I could see a final four making a mark there. Sacramento, Calif., with a significant Asian population, might be a great site next year.
There must be others.
“This had all the earmarks of an event where five years from now we can look back and say it all started in Omaha in 2006,” DeBoer said. “But I think, realistically, we’re going to have to put back-to-back successes together.”
Are there other suitable cities that will take a risk after what blossomed in Omaha? Only time will tell.
But this is no time to park in Omaha and have time stand still.
end of article
In addition, an online poll was taken by the Lincoln Journal Star (albeit unscientific) and the question was:
What would be the best Christmas gift for a Husker fan?
Volleyball Final Four received a whopping 8% of the vote.
This was beaten by such things as:
Alex Marics returning for his senior season 10%
(mens basketball, which annually ranks from the middle to the bottom of the Big 12)
Dane Todd getting a carry in the Cotton Bowl 42%
(NU fullback, who has become almost obsolete in the new offense, except for blocking. Very smart kid though)
Trip to the College World Series for the baseball team 40%
So the point is, even most NU fans and sportswriters are against having the Final Four held perm. in Nebraska. A similiar article I beleive was written in the Omaha World Herald.