Big West Tournament Clouded

LONG BEACH —  With conference champion Nevada Las Vegas sitting out because of sanctions placed on it by the National Collegiate Athletic Assn., the Big West Conference’s annual postseason basketball tournament took a bath at the gate.

The three-day event last weekend at the Long Beach Arena drew only 9,138 spectators. In contrast, last year’s men’s final game between Las Vegas and Fresno State drew 11,045, the third largest crowd for a single game in tournament history. Last Sunday’s exciting final, in which New Mexico State defeated University of the Pacific, 74-73, was played in front of only 1,631 fans.

City officials say the tournament annually produces more than $3 million in revenue for merchants near the arena. The 1991 tournament also grossed more than $550,000 for the Big West Conference, resulting in payoffs of about $16,000 for each of the 10 member schools.

But this year, Big West Associate Commissioner Dennis Farrell estimated that gross revenue from ticket sales was off $300,000 and that attendance was off 75%.

“We’ve really taken our lumps at the gate this year,” he said.

Although both the men’s and women’s basketball teams from Cal State Long Beach participated in the tournament, they did not attract large followings that might have helped offset the estimated 5,000 fans that make the trip each year from Las Vegas, which has won the tournament title eight times.