Staff, any idea where the 65 AAA division will be playing the Spring Nationals?
Not until shortly after the entry deadline of March 2nd, when we can get the team counts and games demand matched up to field availability ...
Has SSUSA ever considered using the SPA method of listing the teams who have signed up to play in a tournament and not waiting until after the entry deadline date? I would assume there are positive and negative effects using this approach.
NYGNYY ... There are certainly pros and cons, but here's our position ... Yes we have considered pre-publication before the deadline, but believe for us that it's better to wait until after the entry deadline ... As we have mentioned on multiple occasions, somewhere around 65-70% of ALL entries come in during the last 10 days before the deadline ... Pre-publication usually results in far smaller numbers than what the actual final totals are when we wait ...
For example, if three weeks out there are, say, three teams early-entered in a specific age/division, and there are another seven teams looking at whether or not to attend ... If we pre-publsih and those seven teams, independently, say "We're not going, there are only three teams!", it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy at the lower number ...
The tournament brackets are, based on our experience, larger when the presumptive analysis to decision making is removed from the equation ... Although players may prefer to have all available information as soon as possible, it's not in the best interest of the event, and by extension, the teams that participate, for us to do so in this instance ... SSUSA generally, and especially at major events, has larger brackets than other associations we may compete against ... This works for us and for you ...
The "Teams" Tab on the event Tournament Page has been activated following the stated entry deadline ... There are currently (at 9:00 AM on 03/03/17) 108 teams entered, representing another new tournament record ... TENTATIVE Field Assignments will be issued in the next couple of days ... Good luck! ...
Thanks I had a chance to view them last evening.
