Why don't we have a game in Portland?
by SoundPound on May 18, 2010 6:24 PM PDT
24 comments
Seriously.
It's not that much further than Seattle, they have a perfectly suitable arena, we are recruiting more and more out of Oregon, and we have a competitor in the area that we could cripple even more than we already do by having a big game in their back, wait, front yard.
It's very important that we begin playing in Portland as soon as possible. We have had trouble getting home-and-home series with teams of high prestige, due to our mid-major status, how dangerous we are as a mid-major, and the venues we have at our disposal. I don't know how hard it is to get an arena to agree to have a college game, but take a couple things into mind and tell me we can't do this: 1) we have an annual game in Seattle, so we aren't illiterate in terms of negotiating, and, 2) in 2008, the Big Sky Men's Tournament Semifinals and Finals were played in the Rose Garden, so it's not like we're too small for an NBA arena like this. We have two arenas that we have used for our end of neutral site deals with BCS conference teams and Memphis: Spokane Arena (12,210) and KeyArena in Seattle (17,072). The Rose Garden has a basketball capacity of 20,630. Portland is our best bet to get schools like UNC, Syracuse, or Duke (since they owe us a trip out here) to come West and give us a chance at beating them. I don't think Portland has any kind of neutral site games to host already, so let's jump on it.
Perhaps the most important issue with playing in Portland is that it has become a very fertile city for recruiting basketball talent. Seattle has been great for a decade or so now, and Portland is catching up. We need to tap into this while we still can, and get a big name school to come in and help us sell out that arena. How cool would it be to play Arizona, UCLA, Kansas, Kentucky, or Duke in the Rose Garden?
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I love the idea of playing in Portland
I had always hoped UW and Gonzaga would play at the Rose Garden to end all this back and forth garbage. I just want to see the two teams play. Doubt it will ever happen but it’d be nice.
I would not want to play in Portland and Seattle in the same year however. We’re at the point now where we can bring teams to play in Spokane. I don’t want to be a traveling show to play all of our big time non conference games. It’d be great if we could rotate between Seattle and Portland ever year but, again, this is very unrealistic.
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I would definitely go to PDX for a game
I have to assume that the KeyArena is cheaper, they must be desperate to get big time events there since they really don’t have anything else.
Rumor had it
Two years ago after the WCC Tourney in Vegas there was talk of Duke and GU playing in Portland. Apparently, Coach K had promised Singler a game close to home when he recruited him. Oregon was mentioned as another possible opponent for Duke. Not sure what happened and as I said it was a rumor.
Maybe this year?
Has the Duke jet ever ventured into the Pacific time zone?
I can’t think of any regular season game in recent memory where Duke has traveled out West for a game. Gonzaga has a better shot of playing in Tokyo than it does trying to get Duke out here for a game.
The Slipper Still Fits - SB Nation's home for the Gonzaga Bulldogs!
You can pretty much count on one game in Oregon this year
Kyle Singler was promised a game in Oregon if he came back and I would be VERY surprised if Coach K didn’t make good on that promise. As of about a month ago they were finishing negotiations to play the Ducks in the Rose Garden on November 27th. Not only would this bring Kyle to his home state for one game it would put him against his brother, E.J. Nothing has come out yet officially on this so it is technically still a rumor but I would be very surprised if Duke didn’t come out here. Shame they won’t play a team with a full roster or at least a few talented players ;)
by ZagsFanatic on May 19, 2010 11:06 AM PDT up reply actions
Just to avoid the inevitable link request:
by ZagsFanatic on May 19, 2010 11:07 AM PDT up reply actions
Huh
Well I might eat my words. Would be cool for Singler.
The Slipper Still Fits - SB Nation's home for the Gonzaga Bulldogs!
lol
playing the Ducks in Portland… makes sense they wouldn’t play a team that could possibly beat them.
Welcome to the Sound Pound...
Other ideas
Target Center in Minneapolis, GM place in Vancouver. We have recruited out of both areas, and both arenas would be packed with nearly 20,000. Even the 17,000 seat ARCO Arena in Sacramento would be a good option. We need something out of our home state…
Welcome to the Sound Pound...
I LOVE the idea of a game in Vancouver
Any excuse to go up there is good enough for me and it could definitely strengthen our recruiting ties. I don’t like the idea of going to Minneapolis, it’s too far from home, not nearly as interesting as Vancouver to make the trip worth it for fans and we have a much better chance at finding talented players in Canada than in Minnesota.
by ZagsFanatic on May 19, 2010 12:01 PM PDT up reply actions
Totally agree with the Vancouver idea
Especially with the Canadian presence already on our team (Kong, Olynyk, Sacre, Arop) and the potential for recruitment, as with Portland. However, my only question would be who would want to play us in Vancouver, BC? UW? An ACC team? A Canadian team?
by Zombie Nation on May 21, 2010 12:37 PM PDT up reply actions
good idea
Yes, maybe Gonzaga should play a game in Portland against someone from the ACC or Big East. Maybe even the SEC school that is “ethically challenged” aka Kentucky.
Josh Normand
ethically challenged?
this is college basketball, they are all ethically challenged lol. They just aren’t ethically punished.
Welcome to the Sound Pound...
Heard an exciting rumor about this exact topic today
We are looking to confirm it in the next couple of days….but if it’s true, you guys will be quite excited!!!
Final 4 or bust
That was the rumor I heard
However it looks like Portland will be playing Kentucky at the Rose Garden before the Wildcats head to Maui.
Final 4 or bust
Surprising move for Cal
I hope Reveno sticks it to him and the upset throws his freshman team off for the rest of the season. Hey, a man can dream right?
by ZagsFanatic on May 24, 2010 12:16 AM PDT up reply actions
What rumor?
are you talking about? A game in Portland? So we are now the Gonzaga road show? Dallas. Seattle, New York, Chicago, Portland. I wish we could get the home and home and not have to travel so much.
Michigan State, Xavier
in the Kennel in the next two years. Memphis in the Spokane Arena.
Wake Forest a year ago. Pretty solid considering a few years ago we literally had no big time teams at the Kennel at all.
The rumor was Kentucky/Gonzaga at the Rose Garden but it was actually Portland that got the “Terrence Jones homecoming” game.
The Slipper Still Fits - SB Nation's home for the Gonzaga Bulldogs!
Oklahoma in the Arena...Tiney Gallon broke the back glass
I remember sitting there thinking WHAT is Oklahoma doing in Spokane playing a lil jesuit school smaller than EWU. And I was likin it!!~
Ahh, how far we have come…
Its gonna be gLoRiOUS!!~
There is certainly an upside
Most people aren’t able to see GU at the Kennel so in a way these games in Seattle, the Spokane Arena and potentially Portland are good for the fans. It is a pain to have to travel across the country but we are in a basketball dead zone in the PNW, even more so now that WSU has come back to earth and UW is run by a worthless rat who can’t build up a strong enough team at a ginormous Pac-10 school to actually beat “little” Gonzaga and the ugly purple husky has run away with his tail between his legs. We can’t expect every team to play against us in Spokane without reciprocating. Thus is college basketball.
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