Syracuse, N.Y. -- The Basketball Tournament is coming to Syracuse this summer. Games will be played on the OCC campus in July. Boeheim’s Army will have home-court advantage. Local fans curious about the $2 million winner-take-all tournament can now see for themselves what all the fuss is about.
Boeheim’s Army, soon to be in its fifth incarnation, will host one of eight regional sites for TBT this summer. Tickets for the Syracuse games, set for July 26-28, are already on sale. The Syracuse venue has sold $10,176 worth of tickets thus far, second to Wichita ($48,851). This year, in a new twist, teams can share some TBT wealth without actually winning the tournament. (More on that below.)
Overseas Elite, which has not lost a TBT game in four summers, is the defending champion. Kevin Belbey, the Boeheim’s Army general manager, has yet to post a roster to the team’s website. He has until June 1 to do so.
While we wait for roster details to emerge, I spoke with Dan Friel, the TBT co-founder, EVP of team relationships and General Counsel. Here’s our Wednesday conversation:
When did you guys come up with the idea for these eight host teams?
That’s something we’ve always thought about. We love home court type games. There’s nothing more sterile than a neutral court game. The idea of playing in a home court was one we planted in 2014 in the championship game. We had the fans vote on where that game would be. And Team Barstool ran away with the voting against Notre Dame so the game was in Boston. We’ve kind of tinkered with this idea of host teams serving as an anchor for the regionals in these locations. Last year, what happened at VCU and what happened at Ohio State and what happened at Bradley was eye-opening to have these games played in front of home fans. Marquette was another one when they hosted the Big East pod.
It was such a great environment, even the teams that were not the home teams loved playing in front of a crowd because you never see that in the summer.
We have always been very aware of how into Boeheim’s Army Syracuse fans are. And specifically up there, that was one of the ones we wanted to work if we could. We started doing some outreach up there which we had kind of done in the past so we knew what the lay of the land was. Ultimately we were able to connect with the Boeheims and the Boeheims are going to be involved in the regional up there. It made perfect sense to be up there with Syracuse.
What was it about OCC that you eventually settled on that venue?
I think it was the location, the size, they’ve hosted events there similar to ours in the past. I think they hosted a high school tournament there. In speaking to a couple people, it seemed pretty clear that that was good option for us. We’re really excited about being over there. I think the venue itself will be great and hopefully, they’ll be playing in front of sell-out crowds all weekend.
Can you explain to people about the money situation this year at each of these venues?
It’s 25 percent of the gross ticket sales going to the winner of that regional. And it’s been a goal of ours to expand the prize pool as much as we can. We’re always thinking about ways to be creative, to get that prize pool up in a way that incentivizes teams to play hard for it but also to let fans feel invested in that growth.
There’s a lot of different ways to approach that but the one that we thought would be the best test run for this year has been the ticket sales. From the teams’ perspective, the more fans they play in front of, the more money they stand to win. So hopefully, they’re properly incentivized to get the word out to sell out these venues across the country. And from our perspective, we’re pleased to part with some of that potential revenue for the sake of playing in front of thousands and thousands of fans.
I think the players are going to feel better. I go into that losing locker room every year and it’s devastating. It really is. More than I expected it to be. It’s so dramatic that one team has won all this money and one team hasn’t. So having a team walk away with something I think is going to be a valuable experience – knowing that there will be something in their pocket will be helpful.
Overseas Elite has sorta said they weren’t coming back this year, but now it seems they might come back. Any definitive answer on that?
I would bet on them coming back. I haven’t gotten any definitive word that they’re going to be up on the website tomorrow, but if I had a chance to defend a title five times in a row, I would want to do it.
It’s pretty amazing that they’ve won four straight.
It is. I think it’s the greatest streak in sports. It’s not like they’re playing against a bunch of amateurs and they’re pros. Or they’re 15-year-olds competing against 10-year-olds. Every one of these guys is a professional basketball player with a lot of skill sets that would translate to an NBA team. They’ve gone 25-0 and to me, it’s just absolutely mind-boggling that they’ve done it. And last year, they had their greatest average margin of victory.
They’ve got a certain formula, too, right? A lot of skilled guys that can pass and shoot?
They do. Their versatility as a team is really what has separated them so far. They can really play any style they want. And they’re also very, very smart. All of those players are very smart players.
You’d mentioned earlier in our conversation that the Boeheims would be involved in TBT this year. Do you know how, or in what capacity?
The Boeheims are going to be helping out trying to get the word out in Syracuse. I expect that they will be there at the games, which I think will be the first time Jim will be at a game. I know Juli has been before. From that perspective, I think they will be helping in terms of promotion. And I do believe that a portion of the proceeds goes towards their foundation as well.
Do you find that as TBT is getting further along and teams are understanding how all of this works, that teams are engaging in more subterfuge in terms of posting their rosters?
Definitely. I think that the stuff that I get to hear about teams that are recruiting guys, rumors about who’s going to join what team, players jumping ship from one team to another, honestly makes the NBA off-season look boring. There’s a great culture of overseas basketball where guys are loyal to their friends but they have to look out for themselves first. It’s really a series of one-year contracts. They’re rarely playing in one place for more than one year. So I think that has kind of carried over to TBT. Guys are always looking for the opportunities. I get to hear who is talking about this in locker rooms. You’ve got 4-5 Americans on any given overseas roster. And they’re playing together in Italy or Spain or wherever. And they all end up on different rosters for TBT purposes. They’re joking about who’s going to win TBT. They’re coming back to play with the people they specifically want to play with.
Because usually, they don’t get to do that.
I think this is the only time that they really do. You’re playing with this AAU team, then with this college team, which is all great, but you’re not necessarily choosing that you want to play with all these guys. And that continues through the NBA Draft. Zion Williamson going to New Orleans – obviously I’m excited to see him as a New Orleanian, but his first choice probably would have been the Knicks or the Lakers. He doesn’t get to choose. But in TBT, they do. So there’s a lot of stuff behind the scenes in TBT that happens, where someone says, ‘I don’t like that guy.’ Or ‘that’s not a coach I want to play for.’
In terms of management, I do think teams are holding back rosters. Kevin doesn’t have his up there yet. I’ve been texting with him about it. I know he has a plan, because he’s Kevin Belbey. I think they and Ohio State are going to end up doing the same thing. It’ll be some time next week and suddenly I’ll get nine verification videos from nine players and they’ll have a team within a day.
What else is new or different about this year?
We’re really excited to continue with that ESPN presentation. We’re going to have games on TV for the regionals again this year. More than we had last year. So the continued development of summer basketball as a TV-worthy event is really the biggest thing in our eyes. What we’ve seen over the years is the caliber of play is great. It’s a different style than you see anywhere else because of how skilled these guys are and we’re putting them in position to succeed with that NCAA 3-point line. I’m excited to see it again and specifically to see it in Syracuse.