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When the NCAA considers sites for the Final Four, it's thinking really big.
NCAA officials looked in on the largest crowd ever to attend a basketball game - more than 78,000 watched Kentucky beat Michigan State at Detroit's Ford Field almost 16 months ago - and were practically won over.
Sightlines from distant seats weren't terrible. Jumbo screens and other modern technology helped.
Best of all, the fans seemed satisfied.
And so the association, which went exclusively to 30,000-capacity or better domes for the Final Four in 1997, is taking a preliminary look at even larger facilities and more liberal configurations that could widen access.
That consideration includes the Cardinals Stadium in Glendale, which will open next year and will have a seating capacity of 63,000 to 73,000.
The Glendale stadium would offer the Final Four a Western site it has lacked since the demolition of Seattle's Kingdome.
"Going up into what would be determined as the undesirable seats and looking at those sightlines and comparing them to, say, the 25,000th or 40,000th seat in some of the other facilities we've been in, we were astonished at how attractive (they have) become," says Tom Jernstedt, NCAA executive vice president.
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/colleges/articles/0401ncaalede0401.html
NCAA officials looked in on the largest crowd ever to attend a basketball game - more than 78,000 watched Kentucky beat Michigan State at Detroit's Ford Field almost 16 months ago - and were practically won over.
Sightlines from distant seats weren't terrible. Jumbo screens and other modern technology helped.
Best of all, the fans seemed satisfied.
And so the association, which went exclusively to 30,000-capacity or better domes for the Final Four in 1997, is taking a preliminary look at even larger facilities and more liberal configurations that could widen access.
That consideration includes the Cardinals Stadium in Glendale, which will open next year and will have a seating capacity of 63,000 to 73,000.
The Glendale stadium would offer the Final Four a Western site it has lacked since the demolition of Seattle's Kingdome.
"Going up into what would be determined as the undesirable seats and looking at those sightlines and comparing them to, say, the 25,000th or 40,000th seat in some of the other facilities we've been in, we were astonished at how attractive (they have) become," says Tom Jernstedt, NCAA executive vice president.
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/colleges/articles/0401ncaalede0401.html
