NCAA decision affects Big West’s revenue

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STEVEN GEORGES / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-ADVERTISER

Sheriff Drammeh (23) of Hawaii scores as Quentin Shropshire (10) of Long Beach tries to block during the second half of an NCAA menճ basketball game at the Pyramid in Long Beach.

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While the Big West Conference cheered the news of the University of Hawaii’s eligibility for next week’s conference basketball tournament, it is bracing for the loss of UH fans, and plans to raise the issue with the NCAA.

“This wasn’t something that just impacted UH, it affected the whole conference,” commissioner Dennis Farrell said. “Our contention all along has been that this process dragged on too long.”

The tournament, which begins Tuesday (women at Long Beach before moving to the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., on Friday) and Thursday (men at the Honda Center), is one of the biggest revenue producers for the conference, and in UH’s four previous seasons of membership Hawaii has proven to be among the Big West’s leading draws, officials said.

Last year, for example, officials said UH fans averaged about 800 per game, with more for the championship game. Total ticket purchases were estimated to be worth $70,000-$85,000. Though exact figures were not available, a sizable group from Hawaii have become annual attendees, Farrell said.

While the Big West is hoping to still draw UH fans that are Southern California residents, Farrell said the conference is going to take a hit in the number of Rainbow Warrior and Rainbow Wahine followers that have to fly in.

“In essence we have lost the opportunity, from a financial standpoint, to have a robust throng of UH fans for our tournament,” Farrell said. “Coming off a season in which UH won the (men’s and women’s) tournament, I would think there is renewed faith in UH basketball success and I think if they had been in the tournament all along it would have ensured a good turnout.”

Farrell said, “The (situation) with our tickets is that we don’t sell a whole lot of all-session tickets for the tournament. We rely heavily on week-of-tournament and walk-up sales. So, if UH fans can’t get there because of having to book flights and hotels at the last minute, well, that’s really going to hit us,” Farrell said.

Last year UH sold approximately 450 three-day, all-session passes.

Farrell said, “I think the issue that we need to look at, at least in my mind, is why the process took so long. Fourteen months? I find it hard to justify how something (like this) takes that long.”

Farrell said, “This was certainly a concern on our part regarding the length of the process, but we’ll address that, internally, with the NCAA through the means that we have at our disposal.”