Tournament attendance could suffer.

Byline: Bob Rodman The Register-Guard

When the NCAA chose Oregon's McArthur Court as a first- and second-round site for the 2003 women's basketball tournament, the plan, or at least the hope, was to have the Ducks still playing there come mid-March.

That is not going to happen. Not without a miracle or two. Oregon currently is a sub-.500 team with two Pac-10 Conference regular season games to play - at USC and UCLA this week.

The Ducks would have to win the March 7-10 Pac-10 tournament at San Jose, Calif., and secure the automatic bid in order to make the NCAA Tournament. If it did, regardless of record or seeding, Oregon would play its first-round game at home.

But today, anyway, that scenario is listed under the category "faint hope." And the potential consequences of the Ducks' absence from the NCAA gig at Mac Court are not going unnoticed.

"If Oregon is not in the tournament," said Renee Baumgartner, a senior associate athletic director and senior women's administrator for the Ducks, "it will affect our attendance."

It already seems to be affecting ticket sales for the four-team, two-round event scheduled March 22-24.

Slightly more than 1,000 tickets have been sold through Friday, according to UO officials. The two-session passes - $26 each for reserved seats, $20 each for general admission, $12 each for students and senior citizens, and a family GA plan (two adults, three children) for $52 each - have been available since August.

The public announcement that tickets were available was made nearly a month ago.

"It is slow," said Greg Graziano, the UO director of marketing and promotions. "but I'm not sure it is any slower than the ticket sales were for the Pac-10 tournament a year ago."

In its inaugural season, the Pac-10 women's tournament drew an average crowd total of 5,483 to McArthur Court for each of five sessions. Oregon reached the semifinals before being ousted by eventual tournament champion Arizona State.

"I think (Oregon not being in the NCAA first/second round games) will have an effect," Graziano said. "We have a certain number of basketball fans who come watch anyone, but we also have Duck fans who just want to support their team.

"But our hope is that everyone supports this event as a community event."

Oregon has been the site for NCAA first- or second-round games on four previous occasions:

In 1982, when the Ducks lost to Missouri in the first round.

In 1987, when the Ducks defeated Eastern Washington in the first round and lost to Ohio State in the second.

In 1994, when the Ducks beat Santa Clara in the first round.

In 2000, when the Ducks fell to Alabama-Birmingham in the first round, a game that attracted a crowd of 7,672. The second-round game at Mac Court, matching UAB and Mississippi State, managed a crowd of 2,838.

"And the NCAA was impressed with that," Baumgartner said.

Why?

It seems as though any first/second-round crowd total that hovers around 3,000 is a good total as far as the NCAA is concerned.

"They (NCAA officials) are very excited about having the predetermined first- and second-round sites," Baumgartner said of the policy that began this year. "But this is not so much about leveling the playing field for teams as it has to do with attendance."

Three years ago, the Oregon-UAB game drew the fifth-largest crowd among the 16 first-round games, led only by 13,617 at Iowa State, 11,895 at Texas Tech, 10,027 at Connecticut and 8,364 at Tennessee.

Oregon's two-session total was 10,510, seventh-best among the 16 sites.

"And that having the third most expensive ticket," said Graziano, noting that the two-session pass for Mac Court's three games was $26, trailing only Tennessee's $30 price tag and UConn's $28.

Baumgartner said the NCAA is all but "begging West Coast teams to bid for sites," which the Ducks, she said, plan to do again for the 2005 and 2006 tournaments, "if we do a good job (hosting) without having our own team to support."

Oregon is not the only Pac-10 team that will see an NCAA Tournament game. Stanford is playing host to first- and second-round games March 22-24, as well as the West Regional the following weekend. In 2004, Washington will be the host team for the West Regional.

A successful first/second round bid is accompanied by an NCAA mandate that it is guaranteed 75 percent of the net receipts, minus expenditures, said Tom Larson, a UO assistant athletic director and chief financial officer for business and finance.

The budget for next month's first- and second-round games at Mac Court, he said, figures to yield about $115,000. Minus the expenditures, the NCAA gets 75 percent.

"It's not a great risk for us," Larson said, "but it is a great event. We think it is worth the exposure and helps benefit the total program, to showcase the facility and our fans."

NCAA TOURNAMENT

What: The NCAA's first and second round women's basketball games. Four teams will compete in three games.

When: March 22-24

Where: McArthur Court, University of Oregon 

Tickets: Two-session passes are $26 each for reserved seats, $20 each for general admission, $12 each for students and senior citizens, $52 for family plan (two adults, three children). Tickets are available at the UO ticket office.

Last time: The Ducks hosted first- and second-round games in 2000, drawing 10,015 fans

CAPTION(S):

McArthur Court will once again be the site of first- and second-round NCAA Tournament women's basketball games this season. S t o r y L a b e l Please turn to TOURNEY, Page E2 Tourney: Tickets sales have barely topped 1,000 Continued from Page E1 W o m e n ' s B a s k e t b a l l