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Tampa subregional
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 24, 2003
TAMPA -- It's one thing to boast an arena as the second-largest to host a subregional this season, but another accomplishment to fill it up.
Even after an allotment of 400 tickets was returned by participating teams Saturday, Sunday's second-round games were announced a sellout, putting the total attendance for three sessions at the St. Pete Times Forum at 58,552.
"Obviously, it means a lot for a first-time venue," said tournament director Rob Higgins, noting only Indianapolis had a higher capacity venue among the NCAA's eight subregion hosts.
Friday's early session drew 17,024 for its two opening-round games, but the remaining two sessions, buoyed by a strong Florida following, topped the 20,000-fan mark. Friday's night session drew 20,224, and Sunday's two-game session was announced at 21,304.
The figures are the smallest crowds ever to watch an NCAA Tournament in the Tampa Bay area, though past attendances came from a significantly larger venue. When Tropicana Field hosted the Final Four in St. Petersburg in 1999, the championship game drew 41,340.
When the same arena hosted the South Region final a year earlier, the attendance was 40,589. In 1994, the ThunderDome drew 26,102, a record at the time for a South Region game.
ALMOST PERFECT: For this weekend to be a complete success for Michael Kelly, he needed slightly fewer points from Auburn.
Kelly, who organized the Final Four in St. Petersburg in 1998 and the Super Bowl in Tampa in 2001, was among the sellout crowd at the St. Pete Times Forum cheering his alma mater, Wake Forest.
Wake's 68-62 upset loss was the only disappointment of the weekend for Kelly, who helped bring the NCAA to Tampa while working at the University of South Florida last year.
"I was already planning on coming back here for this, but it made it a little more special for my alma mater to be here as well," said Kelly, now president of the host committee for Super Bowl XXXIX in Jacksonville.
The NCAA won't return to Tampa for at least four years, but Jacksonville won a bid in December to host first- and second-round games in 2006 and is building a new arena.
WHAT'S HOT: Which teams' T-shirts were the most popular at merchandise stands at the Forum? Florida, obviously, had the largest order entering the weekend, but Gator fans still bought enough Friday to sell out the initial allotment.
More shirts were printed for Sunday's games, but only two other schools had the honor of gear sellouts: upset hopefuls Saint Joseph's and Sam Houston State. The other sellout Friday was a fine-print special listing all 65 NCAA teams on the back.