This consultation seeks to ascertain the views of institutions playing in the BUCS Volleyball and Basketball competitions as the Final 8s are current anolmalies compared to the support given to other league and cup sports.

The recent review of Premier League competition structures led by Phil Attwell (Director of Sport at Exeter and BUCS Board Member) recommended that Championship semi finals are not played at neutral venues or hosted by BUCS and instead hosted by the institution drawn first. This was subsequently supported by the majority of premier league institutions.

Basketball and Volleyball are anomalies as currently BUCS hosts the quarter finals and playoff matches as part of the Final 8s.

In order to ensure BUCS provides the best possible experience for the students taking part and shares resources (both financial and staff) equitably across sports we would like your feedback specifically from a volleyball and basketball viewpoint.

The BUCS Team Finals will be played on a Wednesday before Easter each year. It will not be possible to accommodate the Final 8s within this event as this is event is solely for finals (i.e. no 3rd/4th playoffs). It would also mean having to play the quarter finals and semi finals on the preceding Monday and Tuesday which is not thought feasible in terms of securing officials and also the pressure on students taking 3 days out of their studies.

Should the separate consultation regarding a National League for Basketball receive support then the format would mean that the Basketball final would be incorporated into the Team finals with quarter finals, semi finals and playoffs played on an earlier weekend (please see the basketball national league consultation for more detail).

BUCS would like feedback on the future direction of these knockouts:
Which would you prefer:

A) Quarter Finals and Semi Finals are played as standalone matches hosted by the first drawn team with the Final as part of the BUCS Team Finals

Or

B) Played as a Final 8 over a long weekend as a standalone event

Would your preference be affected if BUCS split the cost of the quarter finals and semi finals between the competing teams (following the squash premier league model)?

Please note this is not necessarily what would happen but would be an option if BUCS didn’t find other funding to cover the cost of quarter and semi finals.

Institutions are asked to send one response from either the Athletic Union or Sports Department.

Please send feedback to Tom Gee at tom.gee@bucs.org.uk no later than Friday 21 September 2012.