UALR submits NCAA host bid

Seeks men’s event in 2014-2015

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

— Competition has intensified since UALR won a bid to host the opening rounds of the 2008 NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

But UALR Athletic Director Chris Peterson and Andrea Angel, the school’s director of athletic development, remain undaunted, submitting an Aug. 3 bid to host the second and third rounds of the NCAA Tournament in either 2014 or 2015 anyway.

Angel said host sites should be announced in November, and Peterson said UALR’s chances of being awarded part of the tournament will likely hinge on the competition.

Arenas in Tulsa, Wichita, Kan., and Louisville, Ky., have sprouted up, making those cities prime candidates to bid for the opening weekend of the NCAA’s marquee event, and even larger arenas in Oklahoma City, Memphis, New Orleans and Nashville, Tenn., have emerged.

Nearly all of the buildings have been constructed or renovated since Verizon opened as Alltel Arena in 1999.

“I think what we fight is that there are newer, larger arenas in the vicinity,” Peterson said. “If they all bid, you’re talking 20, 22, 24,000 [seat arenas], that’s a different ballgame. Because I would be naive to think that the financial aspect is not going to play into the decision making.”

The NCAA said it has received 61 bids to host the tournament in 2014 and 2015, including bids for the Final Four, the second and third rounds and the regional finals. Names of specific schools interested in hosting were not released. The NCAA uses 13 sites (8 in the second and third rounds, 4 in the regional rounds, 1 for the Final Four.)

“You can assume that every city near us has bid, though,” Angel said. “I’m pretty sure Memphis is going to bid, Tulsa is going to bid, Oklahoma City is going to bid, Dallas is going to bid. So you have to be under the assumption that every city that has an arena that has at least 16,000 seats is going to bid.”

The 22,000-seat KFC Yum! Center in Louisville and the 19,000-seat Bridgestone Arena in Nashville hosted in 2012, and the 17,000-seat BOK Center in Tulsa was picked for the first time in 2011. Each of those arenas won over UALR and Verizon Arena, when a 2009 bid to host in 2011, 2012 or 2013 was denied.

Verizon hasn’t undergone as extensive a renovation as Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, which was built in 1996 but underwent upgrades that totaled more than $4 million in 2007.

Verizon assistant General Manager Wesley Holmes said smaller scale improvements are being made consistently.

Tile floor is being replaced at a price of about $200,000, and new wallpaper and paint on the walls recently came to about $300,000.

“We’re constantly doing things,” Holmes said.

But Verizon Arena and UALR can lean on a positive history with the NCAA when they have been awarded events.

In addition to the men’s tournament, UALR’s on-campus Jack Stephens Center hosted the first and second rounds of the NCAA women’s tournament this past March.

“Our staff has gotten rave reviews from the NCAA, on their professionalism, on their work ethic, on their first-class manner of administrating a major athletic event,” Peterson said.

Ticket sales during the 2008 men’s tournament also work in UALR’s favor. Verizon Arena, which seats roughly 16,300, was sold out months before the games were played.

“I think that bodes well for us,” Angel said.

Peterson said there wasn’t much hesitation from UALR to take another shot at hosting the men’s event, even though the bid came a few months after hosting the women’s tournament,

“We kind of felt that we needed to do it, it’s good for central Arkansas,” Peterson said. “It’s kind of our responsibility, that when we can do something like that we need to try to do it.”

Sports, Pages 15 on 08/14/2012