The tournament caps a three-year run of major college basketball events at the St. Pete Times Forum.
By BRIAN LANDMAN
Published October 28, 2004
The SEC announced Wednesday that the St. Pete Times Forum will host the 2009 men's basketball tournament, capping off an unprecedented three-year period for college basketball in the bay area. The ACC men's tournament will be here in 2007, followed in 2008 by first- and second-round NCAA men's tournament games and the women's Final Four a couple weeks later.
"You're talking about four of the highest-profile and first-class college basketball events out there, and to think we can be the backdrop for those over a three-year span is exciting," said Rob Higgins, the executive director of the Tampa Bay Sports Commission. "It's really exciting."
Florida coach Billy Donovan, who brought his team to the Times Forum for opening-round NCAA games in 2003, shares that sentiment, especially because his Gators should have a homecourt advantage.
"It's a great facility, and for the state of Florida and for Florida fans to have the tournament in the state is great," he said.
The SEC's athletic directors chose the bay area, Nashville, New Orleans and Atlanta as the sites for the 2009-12 tournaments a few weeks ago, and negotiations then began to seal the deals.
Higgins, who hand-delivered the area's bid to the SEC in August, Sports Commission member Jeff Adams and Bill Wickett, the Times Forum's point person for college basketball, all went to Birmingham, Ala., for the SEC's announcement of which community would host which year.
Commissioner Mike Slive delivered the news that Tampa would be first in the cycle, with games March 12-15, followed by Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville, the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, the tournament's semi-regular home, and the New Orleans Arena in 2012.
"We are excited to bring the SEC men's basketball tournament to these outstanding venues during this four-year rotation," Slive said at the opening day of the league's basketball media sessions. "These venues have all played host to SEC or NCAA basketball tournaments in the past and have proven to be outstanding arenas for our student-athletes to participate in and for our fans to watch quality basketball."
The SEC last staged its tournament in Florida in 1990 in Orlando, but attendance was dismal. It didn't help that Kentucky was ineligible and Florida was far from a national powerhouse.
That experience, along with Tampa Bay's location far from the league's geographic center, dissuaded the SEC from coming here in 2006 or 2008 when the area last bid. But much has changed, beginning with persuading the ACC to bring its marquee event to Florida for the first time.
"When we met (about that bid), I basically flat-out said, "Gentlemen. If we get this, we're going to get the SEC. If we don't get the ACC, I don't know if we'll ever crack the nut to get the SEC,' " Adams said. "There's no doubt that if we didn't have the ACC already coming, this would have been a much more difficult venture and maybe not as successful. ... We got the first year (this time). They wanted to come."
The challenge for the local officials is to make sure the community embraces each of the tournaments.
The SEC should be an economic boon for the community. The league will be blocking 6,700 room nights in the hotels downtown and in the West Shore district. That doesn't include rooms for the fans of the 12 teams. Officials in Atlanta have estimated the SEC brings $25.7-million to the local economy.
"Now the objective is to successfully host not only this event but also the ACC's (tournament) in 2007 and the NCAAs in 2008," said Ron Campbell, the president of the Times Forum and the Tampa Bay Lightning and the chairman of the Tampa Bay Sports Commission, "because our desire is to keep bringing these events to Tampa Bay on a regular basis."
