The ACC basketball tournament “has long ranked among the toughest tickets in sports,” but demand for tickets has “cooled in recent years,” according to Tim Tucker of the ATLANTA CONSTITUTION. As for this year’s tournament, which opens today in the 19,300-seat Philips Arena, ACC Associate Commissioner for Men’s Basketball Operations Karl Hicks said that “several schools still had tickets for sale Wednesday -- but ‘no more than a few hundred’ tickets in total.” He added that any tickets that “remain unsold will be available at Philips Arena” starting today. Hicks said, “My thought is that we’ll sell it out. The ticket world has changed, but our event has proven to be resilient. And we’ve changed some things.” Tucker notes for decades, ACC tournament tickets “were distributed equally to the league’s schools and then gobbled up by donors and alumni who were offered the privilege of purchasing them.” But in response to empty seats at the ‘10 tournament, the ACC “changed its procedure so that some schools receive more tickets than others, depending on demand.” Hicks said that the conference “was pleased with how the system worked last year -- the tournament sold out in Greensboro...and continued it this season.” He added that allotments ranged from “about 600 to more than 2,000 ticket books per school...and books were moved from school to school as needed during the sales process in an effort to match supply with demand.” This season’s tournament follows a regular season in which the ACC’s “average attendance declined for a fourth consecutive season.” Nine of the league’s 12 teams -- “all except Duke, North Carolina and Virginia -- posted declines in attendance this season” (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 3/8).
JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS: In Salt Lake City, Bill Oram notes multiple media outlets reported this week that the Pac-12 Conference “has settled on the MGM Grand Garden Arena as the site of the 2012 and 2013 tournaments,” but Commissioner Larry Scott said that “that was not the case.” Scott: “We have multiple cities in our footprint that have bid for the tournament very aggressively. So, we have some tough decisions to make going forward and we’ve narrowed the process.” Scott did confirm that the MGM Grand in Las Vegas “is a candidate.” But Oram notes one issue with Las Vegas is the fact the West Coast, Western Athletic and Mountain West Conferences “already hold tournaments” there. Scott said, “There are other tournaments going on that week, so obviously we would be up against other leagues if we were there” (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 3/8).
