It's great to see a bid at all, and especially one from the east coast. That said, I'm curious about the thinking behind the choice of date. This USUs would be held a week later in April than is normal, which would mean directly clashing with APDA nats. There are a number of obvious reasons why that's sub-optimal--so my first question would be whether those dates are the only ones on which Ithaca can host.

Best,

Sam

On Mon, May 6, 2013 at 11:38 AM, Scott Thomson <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Howdy -

Lacking any formal procedure this is Ithaca College's bid to host USU Nationals - which would be held April 18, 19, and 20, 2014.

Ithaca College has excellent facilities for the tournament.
- We have at least 45 classrooms suitable for the tournament.
- The campus is beautiful and the rooms would not be too far from where the rounds would be announced.
- Parking is plentiful, convenient and free.
- Food services is good and caters to all tastes.

See our campus here ---http://www.ithaca.edu/

Ithaca and the Finger Lakes Region are an awesome place to visit for a tournament.
- Ithaca has been rated as the #1 College Town in the USA (http://cornellsun.com/node/55914)
- Ithaca is home to Cornell University
- There are a wide range of hotels (we'll secure a couple of blocks in different price ranges).
- There are fantastic restaurants in a very walkable downtown.
- There are several waterfalls within the city limits.
- The Finger Lakes region is known for is outstanding wineries.

Take a look at the area here - http://www.visitithaca.com/

We are served by a local airport - flights arrive from Detroit, Newark, and Philadelphia. (United, Delta, and USAir)
There are other regional airports - within about an hour are Syracuse, Elmira, Binghamton, and Rochester (2hours).

As a tournament host I have lots of experience and Cornell University has also committed to help with administrative assistance.

Thanks for you consideration -

Scott Thomson
Director of Forensics
Communication Studies
Ithaca College
(607)277-3518