NCAA Ticket-Holders Run Up the Score

ANAHEIM — Sometimes a basketball ticket can turn into a winning lottery ticket.

One of college basketball’s premier events--the NCAA West Regionals--starts tonight at the Arrowhead Pond, a first for Orange County. Tickets sold so quickly during last March’s mail-order lottery that some fans are now scrambling to buy or sell them at two to three times face value.

Mike, who lives in Ventura County and preferred not to reveal his last name, had planned to use his six tickets until he began hearing about the escalating prices. Now, he’s trying to sell his upper-level seats for $250 each.

“The way I’m looking at it, if somebody wants to go that bad, I’ll sell the tickets and stay at home,” he said.

While Orange County will never be mistaken for basketball hot spots such as Tobacco Road, N.C., or Bloomington, Ind., there is unprecedented interest in tonight’s and Saturday’s games.

The winners of the Arizona-Maryland and Utah-West Virginia semifinals tonight will meet in Saturday afternoon’s final, with the winner advancing to the Final Four March 28 and 30 in San Antonio.

“We’ve gotten more calls on this than any sporting event this year,” said Steve, a salesman at the Ticket Outlet, a ticket service in Anaheim. “This is bigger than a Laker playoff game. The only thing that rivals it this year is the Elton John concert at the Great Western Forum, where tickets were going for $1,000 on the floor.”

His agency and others are advertising $70 strips of seats in the lower level for anywhere from $300 up to $900 at midcourt.

The fact that this is the county’s first chance at hosting what has become one of the country’s favorite spectator sports is fueling excitement. The last time Southern California hosted an NCAA men’s tournament game was in 1994, when the West Regionals were at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.

A hometown hero’s return also adds to the local interest.

Miles Simon, who starred at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, returns with the defending champion Arizona Wildcats.

“Many people have called me because they want to see Miles,” said his former high school coach, Gary McKnight. “The best thing to happen to the Pond is having a local kid like Miles in the regional. I have six tickets that are in the third deck. I’m working hard to get lower.”

Many Arizona fans are working just to get in the building. Bob Sepe of Riverside put a classified ad in Wednesday’s Times, selling upper-level tickets for $150 a strip, which are good for all three games. No single-day tickets were sold through the mail orders.

By 8:30 a.m., all of Sepe’s tickets were grabbed by Arizona fans.

“In an hour, I’ve had 15 phone calls,” Sepe said. “I probably could have sold them for a lot more, but I just wanted to get rid of them. It’s Wednesday and they’re starting to panic.”

Each of the participating universities was allotted 1,250 tickets. The Pond’s premium seat holders (suite- and club-level seats) take 2,700 tickets, and the NCAA’s corporate partners get 1,500 lower-level tickets between the baskets. A large press seating area displaces a block of prime lower-level seats, leaving only 8,500 tickets to the general public, and most of those are in the corners.

Bob, a season ticket-holder at the Pond who sold two strips of VIP club seats for $250 each Tuesday, wonders if the exorbitant prices are to be believed.

“I think it’s over-hyped,” he said. “I’ve read where people are getting $750 apiece, but I don’t think that’s actually happening.”

California law prohibits ticket resale on event property, but away from the venue, it’s a free marketplace.

Jerry, who lives in Anaheim, decided a year ago he wanted to take his son to the West Regionals. But after he won the right to purchase four upper-level tickets through the lottery, he turned right around and sold them.

“Once I saw how crazy it was getting, I bought lower-level tickets from a guy for $85 each and sold two of them for $420 [two weeks later],” said Jerry, who sold his original four seats for $180 each. “Now, I’ll get to see the games for free and make some money.”

Rob Halvaks, associate commissioner of the Big West Conference, said most of the tickets available to the general public via the lottery went to Orange County residents.

‘We sold these tickets to people who wanted to be a part of the event no matter who’s coming here,” Halvaks said. “Since this market is so hard to predict, we decided to get them out there as soon as we could.”

Brad Mayne, the Pond’s general manager, said he couldn’t have predicted such an early sellout.

“We had the defending national champion at the Wooden Classic the first three years and we only sold out the first one,” said Mayne of the annual doubleheader that takes place early in the season. “This area is not a basketball hotbed.”

Maybe the NCAA knows something Mayne and Halvaks don’t. Last year, the NCAA tournament committee accepted the Pond and the Big West’s bid to host the West Regionals again in 2001.

“Normally the NCAA is very cautious,” Mayne said. “For them to have given us the 2001 regional before we even hosted this one, says a lot about the building and the market.”

The Pond, the Big West and the Anaheim/Orange County Visitors and Convention Bureau are making sure the NCAA is left with a good first impression. Mayne and his staff have been holding monthly meetings for a year on the logistics of hosting a regional. Part of those include making sure there are enough restaurants and hotels to accommodate all the visitors.

“This is not a big deal for Anaheim,” said Charles Ahlers, president of the Anaheim/Orange County Visitors and Convention bureau. “It’s like hosting a big trade convention. We’re used to this sort of thing.”

Last year when Mayne traveled to San Jose for the West Regionals, he was surprised at how unprepared many businesses were for the crowds.

“We saw restaurants closed or full with one-hour waiting lists after the games,” Mayne said.

Ron Marshall, owner of Stox, an upscale California cuisine-style restaurant on Katella Avenue, said his staff is ready.

“We’re going to be fully staffed ad we’re anticipating having to get people in and out of here quickly,” Marshall said.

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NCAA Championships

Hot Ticket

The NCAA college basketball West Regionals finish at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim, starting today. Here’s the game lineup:

Today: 5 p.m. West Virginia vs. Utah; 7:30 p.m. Arizona vs. Maryland

Saturday: Winners play at 12:30 p.m.

Television: Channel 2