Should Horizon League Switch Format In Regard to Neutral Site Locations?

MOON TWP, Pa. — Thursday night at the UPMC Events Center was everything that college basketball is meant to be. Top-seeded Robert Morris hosted Wright St. in the program’s first ever home Horizon League “playoff” game, the building set a record for its largest attended event, the crowd was buzzing, and the Colonials came out with the win.

The reported attendance for the Colonials’ quarterfinal game was 4,068. In comparison, the Horizon League Championship game from a year ago was reported 2,351, according to aopathletics.org.

Robert Morris fans showed out so much that it sparked this fiery debate across the Horizon League and college basketball landscape:

Pittsburgh is a football town. However, that doesn’t mean that the Steel City can’t develop a reputation as a hoops hotbed, too.

Should the highest-remaining seed in the league tournament continue to play on their home court up and through the championship game or the league should continue its trend of playing the semifinals and championship rounds at a neutral site?

While a neutral site makes more sense for bigger conferences such as the ACC and SEC, many people think that in a one-bid league such as the Horizon, that the top-seed should be rewarded for excelling in the regular season. That is the case in regard to other conferences such as the Colonials’ last one, the NEC.

In the Northeastern Conference, the conference championship game is hosted by the highest seed.

This year, like the last the five seasons, the Horizon League Tournament will now transition to Corteva Coliseum for the final two rounds of the tournament. The Corteva Coliseum has a max capacity of 6,500 which means that the building was at just 36% (2,351) capacity for the league’s most important game a year ago.

Without much seeing all of the numbers, it is easy to assume that is probably the trend that happens year in and year out in smaller leagues such as the Horizon. The First Round and Quarterfinal Rounds see the upwards of max capacity in each arena while the semifinal championship is played in front of a half, well more than half, empty arena.

The counterargument is an easy one to pitch, though. A centralized location near is best for the league and the people working the event.

First and foremost, league officials and representatives need to be at the championship games. The main roadblock to switching formats is that both the men’s and the women’s championship games are played on the same day each year. The chances of both of the top teams being from the same school are slim-to-none.

Secondly, a centralized neutral site is beneficial for the media as well. With the whole operation in one place, it allows for a more effective coverage of the event. Yes, a reporter can cover one game during a campus-held round but with all four remaining teams being in one place, that reporter can effectively cover the event and not just a specific team.

With it making more sense for the league to stay at a neutral site, it would be a shock to see leagues, especially the Horizon, to switch the format to appease to the fans of the top teams.

That being said, what was displayed by the Pittsburgh faithful on Thursday will continue to drive this debate in the college basketball world for years to come.