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Tampa organizers ready for 2003

The Ice Palace and USF know the routine, which doesn't deviate among sites.

By BRUCE LOWITT, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 2, 2002

They went, they saw, and ... well, that's about it.

A tour of first- and second-round sites in the men's NCAA Tournament provided neither surprises nor warnings for representatives of the Ice Palace and the University of South Florida, hosts for opening-round games in 2003.

"NCAA tournaments don't stray from the product," said Rob Higgins, USF's assistant director for facilities and event management and tournament manager for next year's Ice Palace games. Higgins toured St. Louis and its Edward Jones Dome (formerly the TWA Dome), Ice Palace officials Elmer Straub (events coordinator) and Patti Griffith (business and marketing coordinator) visited Washington's MCI Center and Bobby Paschal (USF associate athletic director and tournament director for next year's games) studied the Bi-Lo Center at Greenville, S.C. Also on the Ice Palace committee is Bill Wickett, Lightning vice president of public relations and former PR director at the Palace at Auburn Hills near Detroit. "When you go to different places," Higgins said, "you see pretty much the same thing. ... Being a host school means the NCAA relies on us being here to run the event to their standards."

In other words, USF and the Ice Palace know what they're going to do and when they're going to do it for the March 21 and 23 games.

"It wasn't a case of "Why didn't we think of that?' or "We'd better not do that,' " Straub said.

Of this year's opening-round sites, the interior of the MCI Center most closely resembles the Ice Palace. Georgetown, one of the East Region hosts for opening-round games this year, plays many home games at the MCI Center, which has a practice gym. USF's homecourt is the Sun Dome; there is no practice gym at the Ice Palace.

"It's not good or bad. It'll just be different," Straub said. "There's a working area for the press, a separate area for press conferences. They worked out well for them. ... We've done NBA games here. The big difference between that and (NCAA Tournament games) is there's a lot more media."

Tampa Bay hosted the NCAA Southeast Region's opening rounds in 1994, the South Region Sweet 16 and Elite Eight rounds in 1998 and the Final Four in 1999, but those games were played at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. Most spectators, schools, NCAA officials and media stayed in Tampa.

"We have a much better setup. Hotels are very close to the site," Higgins said.

According to a Tampa Convention and Visitors Bureau report, there were 2,478 hotel rooms in the downtown, Ybor Historic District and Channelside areas, plus 6,469 within a 5-10 minute drive from the airport, Raymond James Stadium, and Westshore business districts. There were 18,464 hotel-motel rooms in Hillsborough County, with thousands more expected a year from now.

The Marriott Waterside, within walking distance of the arena, will be the media headquarters, probably placating newspaper columnists who savaged the region in 1999.

WANT TO GO?

Applications to enter a drawing for tickets to next year's NCAA Tournament first- and second-round games at the Ice Palace will be available to the public through April 26. USF donors and USF and Tampa Bay Lightning season-ticket holders will be mailed a form.

Fans can request a maximum of eight tickets at $165 each for the three sessions. A check or credit-card number must accompany the entry. The Ice Palace has about 21,000 seats for basketball, but 6,000 tickets will be set aside for the NCAA to distribute to officials, tournament staff and the participating schools.

The Ice Palace has received applications for 8,000 tickets. The 15,000 tickets will be available through a drawing in May. The winners and losers will be notified in June. For applicants not selected the Ice Palace will return checks or refund the credit cards.

To apply, call (813) 301-6600 or go to www.icepalace.com.

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