It doesn't sound like our Sports Authority has it's sh*t together. I hope I'm wrong...check out the highlighted part. Shouldn't our Sports Authority know what we need to do by now?? os Chron: ATLANTA -- When the first NCAA basketball championship was held 63 years ago, a crowd of 5,500 watched Oregon defeat Ohio State in the title game at Patten Gymnasium on the campus of Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. Gymnasium? Campus? Those words are foreign to today's Final Four extravaganzas, which are held in domed stadiums with capacities for basketball reaching into the 60,000-plus range. When Indiana plays Oklahoma and Kansas meets Maryland in tonight's national semifinal games, more than 53,000 people are expected at the Georgia Dome. The last time a Final Four took place in a traditional basketball arena was 1996 at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, N.J., where 19,229 watched the title game. Since then, the NCAA has instituted a requirement that in order to be considered for a Final Four, a building must have a minimum capacity of 40,000, which means the NCAA is committed to holding its premier event in domed stadiums for the foreseeable future. "People are accepting domed stadiums for Final Fours," said Bill Hancock, director of NCAA Division I men's basketball championship administration. "I know in '71 (at the Astrodome) and when it went back to New Orleans (Superdome) in '82, there were some people who did not accept the idea. "Basketball purists said it's not basketball. Well, I'm a purist, and it is basketball. People accept it now." The first Final Four in a domed stadium was at the Astrodome in 1971, when UCLA won its fifth of seven straight crowns. The attendance for the final game was 31,675, breaking the previous mark by more than 12,000. As Hancock said, there was an uproar among some basketball fans about playing the championship game in a multipurpose stadium. For the next 10 years, the Final Four was staged in traditional arenas. But in 1982, the NCAA went to the Louisiana Superdome, where 61,612 watched North Carolina beat Georgetown for the title. It was the beginning of a shift toward domed stadiums and away from basketball arenas. In the 20 years since 1982, 13 Final Fours have been in domes, including the last six. The NCAA seems to have hit upon a rotation of six to seven domed stadiums. The next five Final Fours will take place in the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, the Alamodome in San Antonio, the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, the RCA Dome in Indianapolis and the Georgia Dome in 2007. The sites for the 2008, '09 and '10 Final Fours will be determined by the NCAA men's basketball committee in July 2003. Is it possible Reliant Stadium, which will open in Houston later this year, will become part of that mix? Hancock said the NCAA has held preliminary conversations with Houston about the possibility of holding a Final Four at Reliant Stadium. Shea Guinn, president of SMG, the company that manages Reliant Park, and Oliver Luck, chief executive officer of the Harris County Sports Authority, say they are trying to crack the rotation. "Certainly our long-term goal is to be able to bring a Final Four to Houston," Luck said. "All the pieces are in place. The key thing is we have to start now in order to land events five or six years from now. The NCAA has a long lead time, but we need to be doing the work now." The capacity for football at Reliant Stadium will be 69,500. Guinn said the stadium can be configured for basketball to accommodate crowds of 20,000 all the way to the full capacity of nearly 70,000. The largest crowd to attend an NCAA title game is 64,959 in 1987 at the Louisiana Superdome. There would be no problem with taking up the natural-grass football field and installing a basketball court at Reliant Stadium, said Guinn. The design of the stadium allows for the grass to be taken away on pallets to an off-site location without harming the integrity of the field. "We fully intend to pursue a Final Four," Guinn said. "It's a long process, and there are a lot of people to talk to. As it is with any of the bids for big-time national sporting events, you have to be patient. They take awhile." But according to one NCAA source, there has been a surprising lack of alacrity coming from Houston. With the decision for the 2008-10 Final Four sites coming in less than 18 months, time is winding down. The NCAA would like to have more hard data from Houston concerning its proposal. Additionally, both Luck and Guinn said it was their understanding that a venue must host either a first- and second-round NCAA event or a regional tournament before it can be considered for a Final Four bid. That could create a problem in that the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo will be held in Reliant Stadium concurrent with the first and second round of the NCAA Tournament. Hancock said it is not a hard-and-fast stipulation that a venue host an earlier portion of the Tournament in order to be considered for a Final Four bid. "It is, kind of, in that we have a regional for a dress rehearsal the year before (the Final Four) to make sure everything runs right," said Hancock. "But you don't have to have hosted one before you're awarded a bid." If Houston is serious about wanting to host a Final Four, there are several items in its favor. First and foremost, it is gaining a reputation as a viable city for big-time sporting events. The 2004 Super Bowl will be at Reliant Stadium and the 2004 Major League All-Star Game at Astros Field. Moreover, Houston is one of four U.S. cities still in the running to become this country's choice to compete for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. It would become the largest city in terms of population and market size in the mix of NCAA Final Four sites. With the stipulation that a stadium hold at least 40,000 to even be considered for a Final Four, Reliant Stadium is one of less than 10 potential sites either in place or being constructed throughout the country. With more tickets available at domes, the NCAA can keep prices more affordable compared to a Super Bowl or World Series. Tickets in the upper deck of the Georgia Dome have a face value of $120 for two games Saturday and the final game Monday night, an average of $40 per game. "People want to be here. They want to be part of the action," Hancock said. "The main reason we went to 40,000 (minimum) is because schools can get many more tickets. In a conventional building, the schools would get about 1,200 tickets each. Here, each one gets 4,500. "I'm sure that years from now, there will be 200,000 fans who will say they were at the Final Four back in '02. Well, more than 53,000 people really will have been here."
