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Sales Slow For NCAA Tourney Regional In Houston, With Cleveland The Only Sellout

Even with "glamour programs" such as Duke and UCLA among the four teams set to play at NRG Stadium in this weekend's Sweet 16, Houston "hasn't fully embraced March Madness," according to Brent Zwerneman of the HOUSTON CHRONICLE. Only about 20,000 tickets "have been sold for the games at the Texans' home stadium, which will be configured to seat 31,450 fans for the South Regional" tomorrow and Sunday. Tomorrow, UCLA plays Gonzaga before Duke faces Utah, and it is "unlikely the South Regional games will sell out." Ticketmaster prices "range from $95 to $180 for single games and from $150 to $250 for all three sessions." But the reason for the likely non-sellout is "mostly tied to geography." All four schools "are more than 1,000 miles from Houston, with Duke the closest at 1,180." When Houston hosted the South Regional in '10, Baylor "was one of the four teams." Attendance "topped 45,000 for each of the Sweet 16 sessions and more than 47,000" for the regional final between Duke and Baylor. The stadium "will have a center configuration for this year's games, meaning the end zones will be draped." There also will be "seating on the floor, including the ends, but not in the permanent seats on the ends." Among this year's other Sweet 16 regionals, only the Midwest in Cleveland "is sold out (20,500 seats)," while the West Regional in L.A. (19,009) is "close to a sellout." SeatGeek estimates about 28,000 seats "have been sold so far for the East Regional in Syracuse, N.Y. (for a configuration of 35,000)" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 3/25).

ACTION JACKSON: In Jacksonville, Garry Smits notes preliminary impressions of the city's third stint as an NCAA Tournament host at Veterans Memorial Arena "are glowing," as the overall attendance of 38,241 was up from 35,455 in '10. NCAA Dir of Media Coordination & Statistics David Worlock said, "I can tell you that I have not heard of any issues with Jacksonville." Smits notes Jacksonville Sports Exec Dir Alan Verlander now has a "green light to try to get another regional as soon as possible." Regional sites "have already been awarded" through '18 and only "one other Florida city, Orlando, will host second- and third-round games in the next three years." Jacksonville "will bid for a regional" in '19, '20 or '21 (FLORIDA TIMES-UNION, 3/26).

RULING THE ROOST? In South Carolina, Ron Morris reported crowds for the first two rounds of the NCAA women's basketball tournament at Colonial Life Arena "were smaller than those at many South Carolina regular-season games," due in part to higher ticket prices for tourney games. The NCAA "controlled ticket sales for the tournament games, so the attendance figures were based on how many folks were in the stands, not the 'announced' numbers" released by the school during the regular season. A crowd of 10,644 was on hand for Savannah State-South Carolina on Friday, while 10,485 attended Syracuse-South Carolina on Sunday. Those are "outstanding crowds for women's basketball games." But what the numbers showed is that "figures during the regular-season created a myth that tickets for women's games were difficult to come by and that there were a few near-sellouts" (Columbia STATE, 3/25).

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