Paying The Price: Schools Complain About Costs At Final Four

The teams playing in this weekend's NCAA men's basketball Final Four -- Kansas, Memphis, North Carolina and UCLA -- could lose money due to "several mandated costs that schools in the Final Four must pay," according to Chip Brown of the DALLAS MORNING NEWS. Oklahoma AD Joe Castiglione, whose school reached the Final Four in '02, said, "We lost money being in the Final Four." The mandated expenses include "everything from a $32,000 party -- whether or not a school wants the party -- to an increasing number of hotel rooms the schools are required to fill." Additionally, each school's ticket allotment has "been reduced by the NCAA in the last several years, with fewer seats close to the floor," and if schools want to "get their hands on more or better tickets, there's a good chance they will pay inflated prices" due to the NCAA's deal with secondary ticket provider RazorGator. The NCAA this year is providing each Final Four school with 3,750 tickets, most of which are "nowhere near the court, while requiring them to pay for 470 hotel rooms ranging from $123 to $213 with the four-night minimum stay." Texas AD DeLoss Dodds said that the school lost $113,000 during its '03 Final Four appearance because it "couldn't sell all 400 hotel rooms for four nights."  Dodds: "The NCAA is requiring schools to pay for more hotel rooms, while giving them less tickets. And then when you factor in this secondary ticket market, it's not a logical sequence." North Carolina AD Dick Baddour: "I have total trust in the NCAA men's basketball committee. I'm just eager to have a discussion to understand things better -- why the ticket allotments are down, why the best seats in the ticket allotment are gone, why we have to pay for the party if we don't necessarily need it, and about this relationship with a secondary ticket broker."

RAZORGATOR: The NCAA would not reveal "how many tickets are made available to RazorGator, nor would it say how much revenue is generated or how it is divided between the NCAA and the company." Kansas Associate AD Jim Marchiony, who worked for the NCAA for 18 years, said, "We look forward to sitting down with the NCAA to hear an explanation about why the RazorGator system is in place and how it works." Brown notes while the NCAA once "frowned on the reselling of tickets at inflated prices," it is now "actively involved in the practice." NCAA Senior VP/Basketball & Business Strategies Greg Shaheen: "Over a five-year period, we studied that people who had the opportunity to buy tickets were often reselling. Our biggest concern was the illegitimate arrangements for counterfeit tickets" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 4/4). 

ADIOS, SAN ANTONIO? In Tacoma, Don Ruiz writes under the header, "NCAA Ushers In Megastadium Era." Fan-friendly considerations "aren't atop the NCAA's priority list," as the NCAA values "seats. Which means tickets. Which means money." Ruiz notes "about 45,000 fans are expected" at the Alamodome for Monday night's championship game, and wonders, "When will the Final Four return to San Antonio?" NCAA President Myles Brand: "The city does one of the great jobs in the country. So, we won't make it impossible (to return), but there's a lot of competition out there, different kinds of venues, new venues" (Tacoma NEWS TRIBUNE, 4/4).