It hardly seems possible that it’s been less than two weeks since the men’s basketball Final Four in New Orleans, the last weekend of the championship tournament known as March Madness. I’ve followed college basketball for years and grew to love it during my undergraduate years as a student at Duke University.
After Duke won its bracket and qualified for the Final Four, I purchased four tickets for the semi-finals through Duke’s ticket office. The location was not known, but the ticket office assured me that the tickets would be on the first level across from Duke’s bench. Shortly after that, I reserved hotel rooms and flights to New Orleans for my family.
This was not my first Final Four. I had previously attended the 2001 (Minneapolis), 2010 (Indianapolis), and 2015 (Indianapolis) Final Fours, all won by Duke. Since this was Coach K’s last year, I thought I would attend this one as well. An added plus was my familiarity with New Orleans where I attended grad school at Tulane.
After checking in at our hotel Saturday afternoon, we decided to find a restaurant for an early dinner so we could attend the Kansas vs. Villanova game which started at 5:15. The weather in New Orleans was delightful. Thousands of fans were roaming the streets to and from the French Quarter. Everyone was decked out in their favorite team’s apparel leading to friendly cheers or jeers as groups encountered each other on the sidewalks.
As we walked to the Caesar’s Superdome for the games, the crowds were festive and orderly. My last sporting event I attended at the Superdome was Super Bowl XLVII in 2013 when the Baltimore Ravens defeated the San Francisco 49ers. Security lines were much longer for that event than this one where we breezed through. I assumed as we quickly advanced to the entrance gate that the tickets sold for the Final Four must be fewer than the sellout crowd of 68,400 for the Super Bowl. I was wrong.
As I entered my seating section, I was aghast at how far my seats were from the basketball floor. Yes, it was true that I was on the first level. Without a laser gun to accurately measure the distance, I believe that my seats were further from the floor than the seats on level 600, six floors above the floor. The seats were so far back that binoculars should have been provided to ticketholders. Thankfully, there were big screen tv sets in our section, otherwise, it would have been better to watch the game from home or at a local bar.
At the time that the UNC Duke game started, it was announced that the attendance was 70,602. That number was higher than the sell out for a football game, primarily because they slid the basketball court to a corner of the field and added additional seats.
I only spoke to the people sitting in my section of the dome, but clearly, the NCAA showed its greediness by selling 70,602 seats. One broadcaster tweeted that only 602 people could see the players on the court. While that was an understatement, it was clear to me that the idea of playing a basketball game in a giant football stadium is not good for the fans or the sport.
Just to support my thoughts, I quickly checked the attendance at the three previous Final Fours that I attended. The 2001 Final Four was held at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome baseball stadium in Minneapolis. Its attendance was 45,944. The 2010 and 2015 Final Fours were held at the Lucas Oil Football Stadium in Indianapolis. Attendance in 2010 was 70,930 and in 2015 was 72,238. Of the four, the Metrodome seating was the best and the Superdome seating was the worst. I know that the seats Duke sold me in Indianapolis were far better than those in New Orleans, but that’s a different issue. The Superdome is much older than Lucas Oil Stadium, opening in 1975 vs. 2008. Fans would have enjoyed the game much better if the venue were New Orleans Pelicans’ Smoothie King Center which operates with 17,791 seats.
I have a feeling that the NCAA chooses football stadiums because they can get away with it. This was the first time ever that all four teams in the Final Four had won multiple championships. If most fans have never attended a Final Four, their first Final Four can be a fantastic experience that could cause you to overlook the ridiculous seating views. I congratulate all four teams for making the Final Four and Kansas for winning it. I think the NCAA should consider finding smaller venues. If they don’t want to lose the revenues, charge more for the tickets. People will pay a higher price for a better view. There were very few good views at the Caesar’s Superdome.
Featured image courtesy of William A. Morgan – stock.adobe.com
