Since 1980, the must-see NCAA basketball event in New York City was the Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden. Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., however, announced a move that could put them in the running for college ball's top Big Apple venue.
In 2017 and 2018, Barclays Center will host the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament. The move will put several of the NCAA's superpowers in Brooklyn on display.
Top programs Syracuse, Notre Dame and Pittsburgh left the Big East last year to join the elite teams of Duke and North Carolina, giving the conference reason to find a tournament home closer to its new clubs. The tournament will be played at Greensboro (N.C.) Coliseum, in 2015 and at Verizon Center, Washington, D.C., in 2016.
New York was the natural choice, not only due to its market size, but also because Syracuse has been one of the biggest draws for MSG since the Big East tournament's invention.
“Some of those teams have big brands here in the Northeast and New York Metropolitan area,” Barclays Center CEO Brett Yormark said. “Syracuse has called this town home for years. They have a huge alumni following and have a great history having played at the Garden in the Big East. Bringing that history to Brooklyn will connect us in a relevant way to the thousands of alumni that live in this area.”
The Big East's history at MSG was outlined recently in an ESPN documentary titled Requiem for the Big East, which focused the tournament's growth and success on the back of teams like Syracuse. The Orange's 2013 Big East tournament matchup against Louisville, in both schools' final game in the Big East, drew 20,057 fans to MSG. Their power to draw makes for high expectations when the Orange arrive in Brooklyn.
“Barclays Center has quickly emerged as one of the premier sports and entertainment venues in the world and Brooklyn is a hot spot within the New York marketplace, which is an important part of our league's new footprint,” ACC commissioner John Swofford said in a statement.
The ACC tournament at Barclays Center will provide instant competition between New York's two major basketball venues. The Big East tourney and ACC will take place the same week and on competing TV networks.
“If we continue to build our brand and bring the type of content here that people want to see, we are going to be successful,” Yormark said. “We were happy with our college basketball program, but when the opportunity presented itself to go after the ACC, we decided it was something we had to have and went after it aggressively.”
When reports emerged of the ACC tournament's move, there were questions about how the Southern teams would react. Greensboro Coliseum sold out every game from the second round on last year, bringing in 21,533 attendance for six straight games. Yormark said the big-name universities will benefit from having Barclays Center in the rotation of tourney hosts.
“For all these teams, playing in New York and, specifically, Brooklyn, playing on a platform that truly is national and in some respects global is exciting,” he said. “It is a sexy place to go to. The market has become hip and cool and the building reflects that in as many ways as possible.”
While bringing fans to the gate is the No.1 priority, Barclays Center also views the presence of the ACC tournament as a building block toward the future of hosting college basketball. The venue is working toward bringing a round of the NCAA's March Madness tournament in the coming years. According to Yormark, Barclays Center has already hosted 87 college basketball games since its opening as well as the Jordan Brand Classic, one of the premier high school all-star games in the country, every April.
Speaking of long-term goals, Yormark said he is hopeful the ACC tournament and continued efforts in college basketball will grow the fan base of Barclays Center's home tenant, the NBA Brooklyn Nets.
“Convincing fans the sport is something they should be excited about is not something they want to do,” he said. “We just need to convince them that some of their favorite college athletes should be followed into the NBA. We do a lot of cross marketing and think it is good for the overall business.”
The ACC announcement also included that the Atlantic10 will continue its relationship with Barclays Center. The A-10 moved its tournament to Barclays Center in 2013 and played there this March and will return to Brooklyn in 2019, 2020 and 2021.
Interviewed for this story: Brett Yormark, (917) 618-6100; John Swofford, (336) 854-8787