Report: A-10 offices moving to Newport News
In a development that, frankly, makes no sense that I can see, the Atlantic 10 is moving its offices to Newport News, Va., according to that city’s paper, the Daily Press. There is expected to be a press conference announcing the move on Thursday.
It probably goes without saying that office space will be cheaper in Newport News than in downtown Philadelphia, and the cost of living for staffers would be lower in Newport News than in Philadelphia. But the league has three teams in Philadelphia, and another a short distance away in New York. The conference basketball tournament, at least for another year, is in Atlantic City. Teams in the league regularly pass through Philadelphia, making it easier for the league to keep informal contacts in place. It is the league’s one central location; you can probably fly nonstop from anywhere in the league to Phiadelphia.
On my first trip into Richmond, I flew into Newport News because it was a cheaper ticket, but as I made the 80-mile drive back on a cold, winter night, I came to the conclusion, it’s not worth it. The next closest school, GW, is 169 miles away. Charlotte isn’t particulary close. Come to think of it, when I flew to Newport News, I connected in Charlotte. (One could argue that the closest Valley school to St. Louis, where that league is headquartered, is two hours away in Carbondale, but for the MVC, St. Louis is centrally located and that league doesn’t have much in the way of big cities other than Wichita and Omaha. Newport News counts as being out of the way.)
I guess later in the week we’ll find out what’s behind all this. I don’t see this affecting SLU at all, other than that people around the league won’t have to worry about whether the last flight out of Philadelphia each day will be cancelled because of weather, which seems to happen an awful lot. But it’s a lot easier to get from St. Louis to Philly than it is to get from St. Louis to Newport News.
Tom it appears they may be making a move to headquarter the league, and later to move the end of year tournament. The Metropolitan area has a average temp in march (64) is 15 degrees higher than Atlantic City. With Busch Gardens and Williamsburg nearby, it would be a little mora attractive to me than Atlantic city. I would imagine there may be some pretty nice Golf courses nearby, that I would certainly prefer to play at 65 degrees than at 45 degrees. Just my thoughts after a little research.
The league has announced a press conference on Thursday with the mayor of Newport News. I should note that Newport News is across the bay from Norfolk, so it’s a metropolitan area is something like 33rd in the nation. Still, it’s off the beaten path.
Newport News/Norfolk didn’t bid in the most recent round of bidding for the conference tournament.
Norfolk has the Scope, where the old Virginia Squires of Julius Erving days used to play. Newport News also has a venue and was the second of three home sites for Dr. J’s team (the other being Richmond). If you think getting to AC is bad, you ain’t see nothing yet. Southwest flies into Norfolk — that’s about it. There is one road in (I-64) and one road out (same way). There is nothing major about this location at all. With nary a single “draw” school within 200 miles, this seems idiotic and illogical, which is how you spell A10 anyway, isn’t it?