Michigan State coach sounds off about NCAA hosting format and the Starkville experience

[chuck.r]

Beside the attendance issue, there is the logistical problem of scheduling neutral host sites for opening rounds at the same time as the Men's tournament is doing the same. Demand putting a strain on supply. I know the NCAA tried a 'pod' system (8 teams from 2 brackets sharing a venue for the week) for both tournaments to reduce the venue demand by half. The Men's tournament still employs this strategy, but on the Women's side it didn't solve the weak attendance issue. And, if memory serves, there were complaints when higher seeded teams found themselves in virtual road games at venues close to a lower seed's campus (or even on-campus). For these reasons and maybe others the NCAA deemed the pod experiment on the Women's side unsuccessful. Thus we have the current set-up, which, I believe, helps atmosphere and attendance, as well as rewarding best regular season play, for a sport that is still growing.

 

[Oldbones]

I am reminded of all the years the New York Rangers had to play their Stanley cup games on the road, or at a neutral site, because Madison Square garden was rented out to the circus. This practice continued, I believe, into the sixties.
The most notable season was 1928,
https://worldhistoryproject.org/1928/4/14/new-york-rangers-win-stanley-cup