College basketball fans are peppering Twitter with incredulous "The Big Ten Tournament is in New York?!?!" reactions this week. Yes, it's in New York and it's stupid.
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The Big Ten Tournament began in 1998 and for the first 19 years, either Chicago (nine times) or Indianapolis (10) hosted. The tourney moved east Washington, D.C., last year and New York City this year. Thankfully, it will return to a proper location next year, with Chicago and Indianapolis scheduled to rotate for the next four years.
The Big Ten desperately wanted the tournament at Madison Square Garden, but the Big East had dibs on the venue during the customary high-major conference tournament week. Therefore, the Big Ten shoved some conference games into December and move up the tournament one week. While commissioner Jim Delany did realize this was foolish, saying, "We won't do [scheduling] again this way," he did not rule out a return to New York.
"If we can make it back to the Garden on a regular week, that’s great."
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No, Jim, that's not great. This is not Big Ten basketball. Big Ten basketball is not to played in the Garden. It's one of the world's most iconic venues and — Rutgers jokes aside — does open a new market and provide financial opportunities. Stop alienating your core fan base and bring back the tournament to a sensible city.
Here are six cities we wish the Big Ten had selected for the 2018 tournament over New York City.
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Indianapolis
There's a reason Indianapolis hosted seven tournaments over a nine-year period (2008-16), including five straight from 2008-12. It's an awesome city to host a multi-day event in a great central location.
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Chicago
Chicago doesn't provide the same tourney atmosphere as Indianapolis does but it's still a strong location that allows for easy fan travel to — and within — the city.
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Milwaukee
Yes, this would provide a considerable advantage to Wisconsin since Milwaukee is caked with Badgers' fans, although it wouldn't be much different than Indianapolis for Indiana or Purdue fans. The city's new arena, Wisconsin Entertainment and Sports Center, is not completed but maybe the timeline could've been pushed up had they secured the tournament years earlier.
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Omaha
Omaha has the same issue as New York: It's a geographical stretch for all but a couple teams.
Nonetheless, the city provides a similar event atmosphere as Indianapolis, if not better, as shown by the College World Series and other multi-day events over the years.
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Detroit
The farther north they get, it does turn off some fans looking for semi-warm spring weather, but not enough to deter hosting a tournament. The city's gorgeous brand-new arena, Little Caesars Arena, would've been more than suitable.
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Minneapolis
Minneapolis has hosted NCAA Tournament games but never a conference tournament.
Target Center, home of the Minnesota Timberwolves, unveiled a $140-million renovation last fall, and while it's just a few miles from the University of Minnesota, the tournament would not be overrun by Gophers' fans.
