So, there’s been some discussion in the last few days about our very own change agent (Delany) screwing with the tried and true formula of the Chicago/Indy B1G tournament rotation. Specifically, our Nation’s Capital has been mentioned as a possible tournament location (presumably to shamelessly pander to our two newest members, and I suppose to introduce the conference to the East Coast as well).
Now, this isn’t sitting well with the majority of the B1G fans…as the East Coast is considered a geographical outlier and nothing more than a poorly veiled money grab for the conference, with two non-B1G caliber schools. As it appears as though the East Coast will be shoved down our throat (for TV purposes)...and we like to debate shit that other schools’ blogs wouldn’t even waste 10 seconds on, I felt it only appropriate that we take an in-depth analysis at the geographical feasibility of the most likely cities capable of hosting a B1G tournament.
My Criteria/Methodology: While I had no hard and fast rules to determine these host-worthy cities, I generally looked at the 9 most likely urban centers capable of hosting a tournament within or near the B1G footprint that aren’t already located within a B1G school’s home city (Chicago notwithstanding). I tried to create some spread between the cities as well, which is why places like Omaha, Milwaukee & Cincinnati were excluded. I used Rand McNally’s online distance calculator to determine distance between B1G cities and potential host cities. Then, I calculated the total sum distance for all 14 member institutions in relation to those cities, and then I took the standard deviation of these sums in order to determine the theoretical best ‘hub cities’, i.e. those potential host cities which have the highest concentration of B1G cities within their reach (or, in other words: the cities that provide the biggest bang for the buck, so to speak).
Of course, this is purely a geographical discussion, and doesn’t take into account the likability or culture or facilities of a potential host city. For Example: while I found it surprising that Detroit ranked quite high in geographical desirability, I think nearly everybody would agree that Indy would be a far superior host city. At any rate, as it seems like every time I do something like this, there will probably be some errors (unintentional) and somebody will probably take issue with my methodology (tough shit). To the rest…happy analyzing.
Note: all distances are listed as driving distances in miles, as a tourney location needs to be accessible by the majority of the fanbase.
TOTALS - Established 11
Chicago |
Indy |
KC |
Des Moines |
Pittsburgh |
Detroit |
St. Louis |
DC |
NYC |
||
Established 11 |
123 |
70 |
518 |
436 |
426 |
337 |
278 |
666 |
793 |
|
232 |
54 |
467 |
520 |
408 |
360 |
227 |
650 |
775 |
||
222 |
366 |
307 |
115 |
667 |
486 |
261 |
910 |
995 |
||
227 |
258 |
731 |
538 |
356 |
94 |
490 |
598 |
683 |
||
246 |
277 |
748 |
557 |
296 |
42 |
508 |
538 |
632 |
||
135 |
128 |
395 |
353 |
489 |
386 |
179 |
730 |
856 |
||
356 |
175 |
658 |
655 |
185 |
204 |
418 |
422 |
552 |
||
20 |
205 |
537 |
344 |
480 |
306 |
315 |
723 |
808 |
||
146 |
331 |
487 |
294 |
606 |
431 |
358 |
848 |
934 |
||
407 |
595 |
436 |
243 |
877 |
700 |
625 |
1119 |
1205 |
||
695 |
639 |
1124 |
1012 |
314 |
520 |
881 |
235 |
133 |
||
SUM |
2809 |
3098 |
6408 |
5067 |
5104 |
3866 |
4540 |
7439 |
8366 |
|
STDEV |
173 |
184 |
215 |
230 |
185 |
181 |
196 |
228 |
262 |
TOTALS - With Outliers
Chicago |
Indy |
KC |
Des Moines |
Pittsburgh |
Detroit |
St. Louis |
DC |
NYC |
||
Outliers |
521 |
667 |
193 |
189 |
967 |
786 |
442 |
1209 |
1294 |
|
813 |
696 |
1187 |
1129 |
358 |
637 |
944 |
204 |
35 |
||
698 |
590 |
1113 |
1015 |
243 |
523 |
864 |
14 |
219 |
||
SUM |
4841 |
5051 |
8901 |
7400 |
6672 |
5812 |
6790 |
8866 |
9914 |
|
STDEV |
238 |
224 |
301 |
310 |
222 |
208 |
244 |
326 |
361 |
THE RANKINGS (Total Miles - Lowest to Highest)
|
|
|||
Chicago |
2809 |
Chicago |
4841 |
|
Indianapolis |
3098 |
Indianapolis |
5051 |
|
Detroit |
3866 |
Detroit |
5812 |
|
St. Louis |
4540 |
Pittsburgh |
6672 |
|
Des Moines |
5067 |
St. Louis |
6790 |
|
Pittsburgh |
5104 |
Des Moines |
7400 |
|
Kansas City |
6408 |
DC |
8866 |
|
DC |
7439 |
Kansas City |
8901 |
|
NYC |
8366 |
NYC |
9914 |
THE RANKINGS (STDEV - Lowest to Highest)
|
|
|||
Chicago |
173 |
Detroit |
208 |
|
Detroit |
181 |
Pittsburgh |
222 |
|
Indianapolis |
184 |
Indianapolis |
224 |
|
Pittsburgh |
185 |
Chicago |
238 |
|
St. Louis |
196 |
St. Louis |
244 |
|
Kansas City |
215 |
Kansas City |
301 |
|
DC |
228 |
Des Moines |
310 |
|
Des Moines |
230 |
DC |
326 |
|
NYC |
262 |
NYC |
361 |
Connect with Hammer & Rails