Sports: Big West Tournament, T-Minus 2-days

Got my tickets today for the Big West Tournament (BWT)!

The cost is $50 for all 7 games of the men's tournament.

I ran an eBay search for ACC Tournament tickets and found that all-session tickets ranged from $450 to $2400!

As I ponder the economics of these tournaments, I wonder if the BWT loses money on this event?

How much does it cost to rent out 4-days at the Anaheim Convention Center?

That is the expense side of the ledger.

How about the income side?

There are television rights: KVMD, ESPNU and ESPN are showing the games. The BWT is getting only a fraction what the ACC gets from TV!

There are ticket sales. I called the box office to find out when they would send out tickets. The agent said each school sends out the tickets directly. She added that each school is required to sell a minimum of 200 tickets. I suppose all the ticket sales up to a certain point goes to the convention center. Perhaps, beyond the 200, the convention center might share ticket sales with the conference.

During the days of the tournament there will undoubtedly be branded sale of t-shirts, cups, caps and other collectables and the revenues could be split between the schools and the conference.

The BWT sells sponsorship rights. On the information sheet that came with my tournament tickets were the logos of ESPN Zone, Disneyland Resorts, Newport Rib Company and Sirius Satellite Radio (probably a fee for sponsorship as well as radio broadcast rights). There was also a discount coupon for shopping at Macy's. I would predict that their banners will be prominent at the convention center and in published materials.

How else does a small conference make money on this event?

Enough about economics, let's talk hoops!

UC Santa Barbara, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Northridge and UC Riverside play Wednesday night.

What are their prospects?

UC Riverside went 5-22 overall and only won 3 games in conference but one of those wins was against Big West champion Pacific. Dedrick Bates, a junior guard got honorable mention for the All-Conference team.

Cal State Northridge won only 4 games in conference with a 11-16 record overall. Three of their players received honorable mentions: Mike Efevberha, Jonathan Heard and Calvin Chitwood. There big win this season was their season opener when they defeated USC.

Cal State Fullerton, 15-12 (5-9) are lead by Brown and Brown as in Bobby Brown (1st team All-Big West) and Jamaal Brown (2nd team All-Big West) who scored 17.5 and 16.5 points-per-game. The Titans started the season with high expectations as they were picked in both coach and media polls to win the Big West.

UC Santa Barbara finished 6-8 in the Big West and 14-13 overall. Cecil Brown and Chris Devine are their two 2nd team All-Big West players.

UCSB split their regular season meetings with UCR while Fullerton swept Northridge.

UCSB should advance and face Cal Poly and Fullerton should win to meet Long Beach on Thursday.

Of the four teams in the bottom half, Fullerton has the potential to make a run at the title. Fullerton was the 2nd highest scoring team in the conference. Unfortunately, they had the worst defense. If they manage to play some defense they might pull off an upset or two.

Prospects for the top half of the conference in tomorrow's post.

related posts
Day 4
Day 3
Day 2
Day 1
Preview, part II
Preview, part I