SPECTACULAR SEC MENS BASKETBALL
by Riley on 3/11/23Bridgestone Arena - NashvilleRating: 5 out of 5This experience was awesome! Will definitely do it again. Tickets were easily purchased via Ticketmaster.
Venue
Venue
SEC Men's Basketball Tournament
Each March, the best teams in the Southeastern Conference descend upon Nashville, Tennessee, to participate in the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament. Since 2013, the tournament has been held almost every year at the Bridgestone Arena, which first opened in 1996 and seats 19,395 for basketball. The arena will continue to host the SEC Tournament through 2030, with the exception of 2022, when it is hosted at Tampa's Amalie Arena.
SEC Men's Basketball Tournament History
Since 1933, the Southeastern Conference has been one of the premiere conferences in all of college athletics. For the first two decades of its existence, the SEC held an annual conference tournament, with Adolph Rupp's Kentucky team winning it 13 times between 1933 and 1952. From 1951 until the late 1970s, round-robin play in the regular season determined the SEC champion, and it continues to be the official determiner of the conference title, with the tournament deciding an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. The conference tournament resumed in 1979, with the Tennessee Volunteers defeating the defending national champion Kentucky Wildcats 75-69 in overtime at the championship game. The winner of the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament has gone on to win the NCAA championship five times, with Kentucky winning both events in 1948, 1959 and 1998, and Florida winning both in 2006 and 2007.
The 2008 tournament was notable for many reasons, including a tornado strike on the Georgia Dome as it hosted a quarterfinal game between Mississippi State and Alabama. While the game resumed within an hour, damage to the dome was extensive enough for the SEC to cancel the final game scheduled that evening, and move the rest of the tournament to the nearby Alexander Memorial Coliseum. Dennis Felton's Georgia team, who'd finished with a 4-12 conference mark that season, took advantage and went on to win. In 2019, Auburn beat Tennessee 84-63 in the finals, on their way to their first men's Final Four appearance.
This experience was awesome! Will definitely do it again. Tickets were easily purchased via Ticketmaster.
Everything was great except for all the annoying Kentucky fans, but they are Kentucky fans so of course they are completely bias. The only thing I found odd was there was no beer being sold. Most of the schools sell it at the games, so I found it odd that the SEC didn't.
Amelia Arena does a fantastic job to provide a positive experience not matter what event we go to. Thank you
I was able to attend opening day of the SEC Tournament with my two daughters and we had a blast!! We sat half court 5 rows up for a fraction of the ticket cost. We got to see Scottie Pippen and enjoy two great games.
Fun event at right price. If it was any more expensive we would have not gone since it was opening two games for conference playoffs with the lower seeded teams.
I am not a fan of basketball, I really hate the sport to be honest. However, attending the two games was fun, the in-game entertainment appropriate and not overdone. I may attend again next year.
Great time great venue good food good atmosphere good location
9 year old Grandson loves NCAA basketball! Great opportunity to see up close!
I wish that I could've seen the go-ahead 3 pointer by the Florida GATORS!!!
I really enjoyed the tournament games and was happiest that my team won (go UK). The venue had a wonderfully friendly staff. The concessions were decent, if overpriced, but prices were equal to other similar venues. The view was pretty good from my seat. My biggest complaint about this venue was that I have never been so cold at an indoor event for 5 days in my life!!! I took an extra coat to use as a cover because it was so cold in my seat.
Venue was very good, plenty of things to do in town after the games and good local restaurants.
Great college basketball tournament to watch live in the LOU! Definitely hope to see it back in St. Louis in the near future.
I loved attending the even however when UK won we purchased the champions shirts. When we got home to show the shirts to our family one of the shirts had a hole that looked like happened when a worker cut open the box of shirts. I have tried to find a customer service number to get a replacement but have had no luck. Can you help with this?
The entire event was great. Fan interaction done well. Basketball at a high level.
Scottrade arena was good. Food is overpriced but that’s at every arena. Seating upstairs was tight. Overall good experience. How do you get those recliner seats?
Epic! I got to watch my wildcats play against #1 Florida for the sec championship and we almost won! This game was literally a second by second nail bitter. Game of my life!
We were seated in the middle of Kentucky fans. There were available handicap seats on the Gators side . This should be addressed when purchasing tickets thru Ticketmaster.
We had an awesome time. The seats were great. My 3 boys were excited to watch the games.
Good job! Good sound. Fair parking prices. Clean facility. Nice atmosphere.
This was a great tournament. The teams played very well. I was impressed with the fans and their behavior. Teams would play better if they had the support of their fans like UK. These fans come out and are very involved in the game. I was supporting UGA and it seemed as if you could count the Bulldogs fans on two hands compared to UK.