I enjoyed the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. Vermont, with Pawtucket’s T.J. Sorrentine at point guard, knocked off Syracuse. Bucknell stunned Kansas and Bob Knight and his Texas Tech Red Raiders team won their first two tournament games. Not that I’m a fan of Bob Knight, but he makes everyone so uncomfortable that it’s actually entertaining.
But as exciting as the games have been, there remains a nagging question that is bothering me. Why can’t we enjoy these games in person anymore at the Civic Center (sorry, Dunkin’ Donuts Center)?
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Remember some of those great NCAA Tournament games?
How about 1981, when Danny Ainge led his Brigham Young team to a one-sided upset of UCLA, 78 to 55. It seemed like Ainge scored every time his team had the ball that afternoon. He finished with more than 40 points. The place was going crazy. And what about 1989, when John Thompson’s Georgetown Hoyas barely slipped past Ivy League champion Princeton, 50 to 49? Everyone with even a passing interest in the tournament was glued to what was going on in Providence that day.
Both of those games were attended by roughly 13,000 fans – as much as the building could hold.
In recent years, the NCAA Tournament has abandoned Providence. The company line has been that the Dunkin’ Donuts Center isn’t big enough, that the NCAA now only plays in facilities that can hold several thousand more fans per game.
It makes sense. More fans – more money.
But then as I started watching the games more closely this year, it dawned on me that not all of them were being played in cavernous arenas. And so I’m not buying the company line. Consider the first round of this year’s tournament.
Sure, in Indianapolis, more than 40,000 fans turned out to see Illinois and Kentucky easily win their first round games. But those numbers represent the exception, not the rule.
In Boise, Idaho, where Washington beat Pacific, 11,891 fans turned out. In Tucson, Ariz., where Knight’s Texas Tech team upset Gonzaga, there were 13,751 in the building. In Cleveland, where West Virginia surprised Wake Forest, 13,332 attended the first-round games.
And perhaps most disheartening, less than an hour from here, in Worcester, Mass., where Vermont shocked Syracuse, 13,009 turned out. The attendance numbers were similar in other locations, like Cleveland, where 13,332 attended the opening round games.
Right now, the Dunkin’ Donuts Center is at a crossroads.
There are two expansion proposals on the table. One would cost $58 million and include the construction of luxury boxes, party suites, a new food court and overhaul of all the seats and the addition of a walkway connecting the building to the convention center.
A $38 million alternative would include the luxury boxes, party suites and food court, but would upgrade only the floor seats. It would not connect the building via a walkway to the convention center.
Personally, I hope the old building gets a first-class overhaul – even if it does cost $58 million.
Providence is a city on the move. It deserves a first-class sports and entertainment center.
But in the meantime, someone should check back with the NCAA – maybe send them an updated brochure and remind them that we’re big basketball fans around here.
And seeing as though they only need to fill about 13,000 seats for their opening round NCAA Tournament games, they ought to come back to Providence.
They won’t be sorry. After all, there’s no way the restaurants in Boise even compare.
