Earlier this evening ESPN's Andy Katz reported that the NCAA is starting to discuss whether having the Final Four in domes or switching back to arenas. NCAA executive vice president for championships, Mark Lewis, who was hired in April, brought up the idea during the selection committee's summer meeting and again last week at the National Association of Basketball Coaches meeting. The idea stems from him realizing that there only only eight domes in the US that can hold the Final Four, meaning there are quite a few major cities that aren't even considered to hold college basketball's last four games. The thought is quite intriguing.
The eight domes Lewis would be referring to are: the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, the Superdome in New Orleans, Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Reliant Stadium in Houston, Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, the Metrodome in Minneapolis, Ford Field in Detroit, and the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis. He mentioned these eight because these are the only suitable domes remaining that have recently held a Final Four in the last 20 years. He left University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale and Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. He probably left out the Trop because it has gotten the reputation of being old and outdated in recent years. I don't know why he left out University of Phoenix Stadium, as it held the 2009 Men's West Regional. The reason why there are so few domes in the US is because they are normally built for NFL teams, all the list are the home of a NFL team except for the Trop, and with it being very expensive to built a domed stadium, much of the NFL decided against doing it.
The NCAA switched to domes back in 1997. The decision was very simple considering that domes can home almost four times as many people as arenas can (70,000-20,000). Four times as many people means four times the money, and it's hard to turn down that kind of money. But is it right to exclude most major cities just because they don't have a 70,000 seat domed football stadium? Does it always have to be about the money? The NBA survives playing only in 20,000 seat arenas, why can't the NCAA? What makes the NCAA better than the NBA that they get to play their championship in a massive dome? Well, Lewis and the committee are seeing just how much more money they make after taking out the costs of setting up and breaking down of the domes before and after each tournament.
Another good point Lewis brought up was, are domes the best venues for basketball games? That is a fine question. I know last year in the Superdome the basketball court was elevated, like a stage. Does shooting on an elevated court affect the ball? I mean it logically it shouldn't because it's only raised an extra five to ten feet. But, as we all know, things aren't as simple as they seem sometimes. What about the playing surface, does running on the elevated hardwood feel different than normal hardwood that isn't elevated? I don't know. Neither does Lewis as he admits to being unfamiliar with basketball and that the best choice would be what's best for the student-athletes and the sport of basketball itself, a very generic sounding statement.
I think the solution would be have it open to all cities, including ones with domes and arenas, and have a bid process similar to what the NFL and International Olympic Committee do. This way any revenues lost from downgrading from a dome to an arena would be recouped in the bid the city must pay to host the Final Four. Cities will definitely pay to hold the Final Four as it becomes the next big sporting event after the Super Bowl in February, and good money to considering how wildly popular March Madness is. It would put an end to the unfairness of leaving out certain cities and replace it with one that is as fair as it gets...highest bidder gets rewarded. It would be no different than football stadiums paying the NCAA to hold bowl games for multiple years.
Unfortunately for most of the country, domes have the Final Four until 2016, which is why these talks are only preliminary. But it is good that they are started talking about it now. It's unlikely that they will switch from domes, but if someone passes on my idea then the Final Four could be in an arena near you in 2019.
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/8346428/ncaa-discussed-final-four-move-domes-arenas
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/NCAA/Resources/Latest+News/2012/April/Mark+Lewis+selected+as+NCAA+executive+vice+president+for+championships+and+alliances
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Phoenix_Stadium
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropicana_Field
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