Chittlins

Like I said early on in this thread the new Nashville Park is just so generic and ho hum. Really thought they'd have done better but El Paso Texas ran circles around them in about he same time span for a new stadium.

All the added hotels going into downtown Memphis will also lead to them bidding on the Basketball tourney again in the future and having a better case for it.

Same would happen in Memphis. You can tell who lives close to Hoover in this thread. In the end it will come down to money, are other cities willing to buy it out of Hoover. Money talks these days. But don't give us that Hoover has more fans nonsense

Hell I could see a city getting it for threes years at a time and between three year stands have a one off location like a Biloxi or Pensicola or even a Montgomery. BIrmingham's new park could host. Just bulldoze Hoover and put up spec homes.

They can dump their crap at a Pilot while leaving town, Tiger Lane has the electricity hookups they need. Memphis did a nice job with Tiger Lane. Still wish they would build a stadium downtown, though. Man, go watch a game and walk ten minutes to eat at Gus's, cross the street and try out micro distilled vodka and Whiskey, mosey back to Beale and listen to some music and stumble back to the stadium for a game in the evening. Crawl back to the hotel across the street. Sleep. Wakeup. Repeat. All while not once touch a steering wheel.

I'd rather see it rotate amongst a small core of nice minor league parks. Nashville's stadium is brand new but it's rather generic. They did copy the old guitar scoreboard. Autozone is hands down the best facility in the offering with a host of hotels and restaurants right at the park. Jacksonville and NO offer decent parks with little to do around it. I'd rather see Biloxi bid. Hell, Disney should bid with their park in Orlando. Here the Braves may move to a new spring training facility, so they may bulldoze it. Memphis has the best package. Very accessible for the the largest fan bases for baseball outside of USCe.

From the Commercial Appeal:

A bid to host upcoming Southeastern Conference baseball tournaments was submitted Wednesday by a Memphis group — the Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Memphis Redbirds and the Memphis Sports Council — that hopes to wrestle the event from its nearly 20-year stay in Hoover, Alabama.

Nashville, New Orleans, Jacksonville and Hoover also submitted bids. The Memphis bid is for 2017, '18 and '19 with options for '20 and '21.

"We are going to give it our best shot," said Kevin Kane, CVB president. "We are going to be as aggressive as we can be. We are throwing the kitchen sink (of amenities) at them. It would be a prestigious event for the city."

Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Hoover, a suburb of Birmingham, has played host to the SEC Tournament for the past 18 years and is expected to present another strong bid.

The winning bid is expected to be announced at the league's annual spring meetings in May at Destin, Florida.

SEC associate commissioner Herb Vincent said the tournament has been successful in Hoover, but added: "As we near the end of the current contract, our membership thought it was important to explore what locations, including Hoover, would have interest in serving as a host."

Memphis bid for the event four years ago, but Kane said the city is better equipped to host the tournament, including providing for the armada of recreational vehicles that accompany SEC teams annually to Hoover. Kane said the RVs would be directed to Tiger Lane, the tailgating area at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium that offers electrical connections. He said free shuttles would run continuously to AutoZone Park — a five-mile drive — during games.

"We think we have solved the RV problem," Kane said. "And we just think we have a great overall package to go with a superior ballpark."

The Redbirds, the Triple-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, would have to alter their Pacific Coast League schedule to allow for an extended stay by the SEC. But Craig Unger, the Redbirds' general manager, said he has been in "constant communication" with the PCL about making allowances should Memphis be awarded a tournament.

"It's exciting for us to just be considered," Unger said. "The city of Memphis would be an ideal place to hold an event like this."

Unger said capacity at AutoZone Park would be 12,000 for the SEC Tournament. He said the Redbirds would need to block off 12 days for the event, which would draw more than 100 media members.

"We are looking at 10 to 12 days where the Redbirds would have to be out of town, but the (PCL) is aware of that," Unger said. "The (PCL) is supportive in our efforts to bring this to Memphis."

Unger said Oklahoma City, a PCL team, has played host to the Big 12 tournament. The Durham Bulls of the International League have played host to the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

"This is not unusual," Unger said.

Kane said he's confident those who put together the Memphis bid "have all pieces of the puzzle in place."

"We think SEC baseball fans deserve a diverse experience," Kane said. "We think we've built a compelling case for Memphis and the SEC."


Tiger Lane:


New hotels across the street:
https://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/news/2016/02/11/three-downtown-hotel-projects-get-green-light.html#g2

Beale Street one block away:

This tourney needs rotating. Nashville is doing it because they have a new AAA park. Memphis has tried before but the Cardinals took ownership of AutoZone last year and put millions into already making one of the best minor league parks better. Birmingham's new park may want to host as well. Oh, the new Atlanta ballpark as well. The ACC has had it's tourney at Fenway before.

Back to Memphis, it's great place for this, a block off of Beale and there's two new hotels going in right across Union from Auto Zone and another hotel that will be part of one Beale.

I'd love for it to find it's way to Biloxi and it's new park, maybe even Montgomery. Some cool parks out there. Wish Nawlins would replace Zephyr. I absolutely hate the basketball tourney being in Nashville all the damn time. With the Tigers suckling it up, maybe the new owner will finally stop placatingng them and go hard after hosting the basketball tourney,FedEx Forum is much better for basketball than Bridgestone and it huge floor for hockey,plus Beale. Same goes for New Orleans and the Quarter. But please no football stadiums for the basketball tourney.

Listen to Kentucky fans boo at the end, Glorious

LINK

Jordan Who?
LINK

Stop coming.

By all means, y'all drive to Fayetteville and visit a spell. However, the event will take place in Little Rock.

most bama honest Bama folks think it's Arkansas in the end. Malzahn does carry weight in Arkansas high school circles. Dyer has told some he likes the recruiting process and with that he's going to be a drama queen about it. What better way to play it up in Arkansas than to dance with a coach that our former coach forced out of town out of petty jealousy.