NATIONAL COLLEGE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION MEDIA CONFERENCE

July 1, 2003

Jim Livengood

Cheryl Marra

CHERYL MARRA: Obviously this is a very exciting time for the women's basketball committee to announce the 2008, 2009 and 2010 Final Four sites. We begin with Tampa April 6-8 in 2008; St. Louis, Missouri April 5 to 7 in 2009; and San Antonio, Texas April 4-6 in 2010. It was a very exciting time for us with the interest that was shown out there for those cities and in institutions tuitions that are looking to host. It was an extremely difficult decision, given that excitement and enthusiasm and all of the cities did a great job. We believe it was a very positive experience working with the men's committee looking as these cities we are looking to jointly proposing to the Final Four sites. So we are excited to be able to have these three new cities on board.

JIM LIVENGOOD: The committee and the staffs have spent a lot of time the last couple of months doing site visits around the country. Last week, the committee met in New Mexico for our annual summer meeting and presentations from the six cities. Today's decision views all six cities as ongoing partners for the future of the championship. The NCAA staff and men's basketball committee appreciates very much all of the hard work put into this process. So we are very excited to announce the upcoming four sites for the 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 Men's Final Four. In 2008, April 5-6 will be the San Antonio, University of Texas at San Antonio as the host. 2009, April 4-6, Ford Field Detroit, University of Detroit Mercy as the host. 2010, April 3-5, RCA Dome in Indianapolis, Indiana, Butler University and the Horizon League is the host. April 2-4 in 2011 Reliant Stadium, Houston, Texas, University of Houston as the host.

CHERYL MARRA: I think there's no doubt the fact that they did host a great championship in 2001. It gave us a great platform to begin from. They have certainly proven leadership within the organization to give us a great amount of confidence to go back. They have a great facility. Looking at a dome this time for the first time allows us quite a bit of flexibility to decide where the game has grown by the time 2009 comes around to how large we want to make that. They also had a much-improved hotel package. That was something we were looking at from St. Louis, and they have certainly come through with that, as well, and they have some great female leadership within their organization. So they just created a great package and they have provided a great student athlete experience and that certainly was hats off to them.

JIM LIVENGOOD: I think it's coincidental in the sense of that exact date. What we tried to do was we were looking ahead for the 40 years is making sure that Houston certainly, Reliant Stadium, as a site was in the right sequence in terms of where they would fit, and 2011 seemed to be the right sequence. And the committee and the NCAA were extremely excited and upbeat about Houston, Texas in 2011. It is interesting and exciting that it is that kind of 40-year time period.

JIM LIVENGOOD: Yes, absolutely. Not only a shot, but they will have. There will be a regional in there in the upcoming years before that. One additional thing: The committee did think that the bid group for Houston did an extremely creative job and the ideas they brought forward were excellent.

JIM LIVENGOOD: It's possible. It's really hard to speculate at this time but it's certainly possible.

JIM LIVENGOOD: Detroit, again, each bid group was allowed to have six people in the room during their presentation. Detroit really did, as did all cities, have an extremely impressive group and came in very creative. They have a very impressive building in terms of Ford field. They came in with a tremendous amount of enthusiasm. We believe and feel that there's a lot of basketball tradition, certainly, in Detroit and the State of Michigan. The downtown development is very impressive of what Detroit, Michigan has going on. There's a tremendous commitment to their local corporate entities. And probably and finally, the committee was very impressed and certainly very focused on trying to make sure that we stayed as diversified as we possibly can and was very impressed with regard to the diversity in Detroit, Michigan.

JIM LIVENGOOD: Well, obviously they will have held, certainly, even though we take it right now they will have held a Super Bowl there, but when the committee looks ahead, that's one of the things. We have to go to new sites. It's important that we go to new sites and we still allow lots of opportunity out there in terms of committees who are looking at building facilities and having them hopefully keeping in mind that they think about it, that they might be involved in the bid process or upcoming Final Fours. The committee really feels strongly they will be excellent hosts for that Final Four in 2009, and we feel very comfortable about it.

JIM LIVENGOOD: It certainly -- we are not looking at it as an audition, but it's one of those things that didn't hurt, either to know that they are trying to be creative. Again, that comes down to part of the creative part of the bid group from Detroit. We think that's a very much positive with regards to any time you have a chance to work some things out before 2009, again, the group from Detroit, they were extremely creative. We really do like the facilities to get used to NCAA basketball before we play major championships in them.

JIM LIVENGOOD: Well, New Orleans obviously is a great partner and we have had great Final Four memories in New Orleans, and this year has been no exception. The leadership in the committee there, there's a great commitment to getting things to happen. The Louisiana Sports Foundation (ph) has been fantastic. Doug Thornton's group at the dome has managed that facility in an effective way. The future renovation plans are exciting. The committee at the preliminary round -- in the next business cycle, it means they will have hosted an NCAA championship sites for five of the next nine years. It wasn't so much what they don't do, because they did everything. The hardest part is there were six cities that made excellent presentations and then as we move forward we can only select four. So it in no way reflects on something that was not done and the important thing is, the committee really intends to keep New Orleans in the mix as we move forward. It's a fan favorite, as well as a tremendous hosting site. So this is again not about what they haven't done. Certainly it's about a tough time of selecting cities.

JIM LIVENGOOD: Not at all.

CHERYL MARRA: We have made that decision, and it will be the Edward Jones Dome. It allows us to be able to make a decision how large we want to go at that point in time, so the flexibility that the dome provided to us really was a great drawing point for St. Louis .

JIM LIVENGOOD: With last week's anointments of the NCAA Final Four heading to St. Louis, the NCAA certainly in St. Louis is very, very good. That should be obvious. It's not about, again, what they didn't do. It's just the hard part of having six cities, six excellent cities and only being able to pick four.

JIM LIVENGOOD: No, I don't think it's hurt at all. I think the committee is excited about the 2005 Final Four, and we know that it will be a great Final Four, a memorable Final Four and that the city will do a great job. So it's not hurt at all in terms of the lateness. That's just kind of the way the process works through. The committee has to be looking always ahead in terms of new facilities and certainly new sites so that we try to expand this and quite candidly keep it a national tournament.

CHERYL MARRA: Well, I can only tell you, I don't think I've seen nearly as much enthusiasm from any city by hosting this Final Four. From the moment we went down for our site visit, they showed unbelievable enthusiasm, creativity and just the desire to bring this event down there and make it a very memorable one. As Jim eluded to on the men's side, the creativity and enthusiasm came through, as well, when they did their site visit to the committee down in New Mexico. So they clearly have the whole town behind them, and that was very impressive to our committee. But the other things they bring to the table, they have an impressive building. They have proven that they can be an NCAA host. They have hosted a Men's Final Four in the past as well. They had great hotel packages with some of the new hotels that they have had built down there. They also have a great enthusiasm to have a women's event down there. The weather wasn't too bad, either, when we were trying to decide, where do we want to be at the end of March. Weather aside, everything else they brought to the table was very impressive. Regarding a regional, at this point in time we have regionals out through 2007, and that a decision for a regional is going out further than that will not be made until next year so. We'll take a look -- it's always great to have been at a building prior to a Final Four, but the committee will make that decision in the future.

CHERYL MARRA: Yes, I believe last year they did a first and second round for the men's championship in that particular facility so they have had an opportunity to host.

CHERYL MARRA: This was again a very, very hard decision. We had four great cities. One of those things I think our committee had to contemplate a little bit was dome versus traditional, and over the next seven years, we'll be in a traditional facility four of those seven years. And that is something we have to contemplate when we were looking at all of the four cities: Where is the championship going to grow; and at what point in time do we want to move in that direction. My sense is Denver will come back in the queue and they will have just as good a shot to get it relative to moving to the west. I don't know there's a whole lot different they can do with this bid. Sometimes you are as good as those you go up against, and as Jim indicated, they didn't do anything to take them out. We just had a very difficult decision as we were going forward. So we anticipate at some point in time we will certainly be at Denver.

CHERYL MARRA: It was effective. I tell you, we all took a great deal of pause, and it led to some lengthy discussions relative to all four cities that with were putting out there. I think they did a very, very effective job and made the committee really have to talk long and hard about which of the cities we were going to go to.

JIM LIVENGOOD: A number of factors. Obviously, San Antonio is certainly a fan favorite, terrific hotels downtown, great youth programs, and quite honestly and sincerely, really do enjoy the hosting process. San Antonio has just done an outstanding job along those lines. One of the things I was asked earlier and I think this is very appropriate right now, the distance, if you will, or such between these bids in is very, very minute. All of these cities are so very, very close that they are all, as I mentioned before, considered just great partners. I would like to, and this ties in very nicely with both the women and men going to San Antonio, is Cheryl and her committee, incredible cooperation between the two committees in going forward is only going to enhance college basketball, both at the women and minute's level and that's really exciting. I think both committees and, Cheryl, certainly, the men in our committee was a real pleasure to be able to have this type of cooperation going forward. That's a real tribute, as well.

CHERYL MARRA: All of points he made; San Antonio is a great distinction city. No doubt about it. One of the things that impressed was their buzz line that they are going to: "Guard our Jewel" and they really appreciate the, Women's Final Four, and they have done a wonderful job of really fostering the experience that we all have around that.

CHERYL MARRA: Absolutely. They have proven that not only do they want us in that city, but they are going to make it a great experience once we get there. They have great leadership down there, and as Jim pointed out, we worked hand and hand in both committees to take a look at those cities that were common to both of us and where we could potentially make it work to be a great experience for both the men and the women.

CHERYL MARRA: That was extremely difficult. Again we had not been -- this will be the first time we are down in Florida with the Final Four. That was obviously on the able table. We had not been out to Denver. I think when we looked at that, coming off of Boston which is traditional in 2006 and Cleveland in 2007, the size of Tampa's arena was important to us. It was another step that was a little bit larger. Their enthusiasm clearly was very, very significant in making that decision, and it was a very, very difficult one.

CHERYL MARRA: That's correct.

JIM LIVENGOOD: They did an excellent job and certainly the committee did have questions about that. The local organizing committee in San Antonio not only did a good job in easing our mind, but we also have a commitment on both sides, the NCAA staff is going to be working very closely with San Antonio just to make sure as we move along. We realize this is out there a ways, and so 2008, even though we are going to be in there this coming year, is out there a ways with regards to the building and so on and so forth. That will all be worked through carefully with staff and with the local organizing committee in San Antonio. We felt very good about it.

JIM LIVENGOOD: Indianapolis is very, very unique, probably the most unique situation we have ever encountered. It's demonstrated for more than 20 years, its combination of corporate support, the facilities, the spirit, the citizenry, is second to none. Most intriguingly than anything else, their effort came across absolutely. The committee was really strong on this, it came across as if they had never hosted anything before, and the group that came in to present for Indianapolis were tremendous in this way. They were sincere, creative, excited to be there to state their case. We are excited to schedule another stop in Indianapolis in 2010. I think some probably think well that's just an automatic. It was not at all. Every committee did a great job of presenting every bid group. Indianapolis certainly did not take anything for granted. They were very, very impressive.

JIM LIVENGOOD: Houston, for a lot of reasons, the new facility, obviously, is fabulous. It's going to be a great site. They have quality hotels. They have got a lot of enthusiasm. Reliant Park where the stadium is located is a terrific space. I think the liveliness and all of the energy that's going on downtown, and the downtown development when we were in two weeks ago, three weeks ago now to Houston, I could not believe it had been probably six, seven eight years since I had been to Houston. What has happened downtown is fabulous. It's the fourth largest city in the country. Again, much as Detroit, great diversity with the city of Houston. So all kinds of reason, Reliant Stadium is a remarkably flexible which certainly helps us. Again, the bid group that came in from Houston did a tremendous job with regards to how excited, how creative and how important it was get this bid and to host a Final Four.

JIM LIVENGOOD: It does. And realizing as we go through this process, not all of the cities are available for every one of the four years. That part we have to work through, it's not just picking the four sites and plugging them in. There is a process but you're correct. I think it will work very nicely with 2008 in San Antonio and to 2011 in Houston.

JIM LIVENGOOD: There is no league, per se. Appearances sometimes are deceiving, but every city is considered on its own merits. What the NCAA, along with the committee, would like to have is not always possible, if somewhere does not work within a four- or five-year gap between hosting when that happens, but there's nothing magical on any of those. So I know what you're saying and I appreciate how you're saying it, but there's no favorite group that it's always going to be. It is totally dependent on bid process, site visitations and then seeing what happens.

JIM LIVENGOOD: Without getting into specifics because that would not be fair to do for Detroit and not everybody else because all of the groups did a great job. But they came in extremely prepared to address all of the those things that either they knew would be or possibly could be issues that the committee might want to hear about. And just absolutely alleviated every one of those kinds of things, and that's what I was thinking with regards to creativity, realizing that each group was allowed six people. We don't allow video, movies. There's nothing, so everything is the same. It's not who can spend the most on doing what. It really depends on answering the questions, it really depends on knowing what you're trying to do and quite candidly, trying to convince the committee that they would be the right place to hold an NCAA Final Four.

JIM LIVENGOOD: I don't think so. We viewed Detroit as Detroit and where they are right now and certainly they have terrific vision, there's no question about that. But we tend to -- I think we would make a mistake if we tried to look ahead in those ways. So Detroit was evaluated and viewed strictly as they are right now.

CHERYL MARRA: Yeah, that clearly was not the only thing that went into that. Not only the size of the facility and its capacity but also the auxiliary space that might be provided and that did not take them out of the mix, please understand that. When you have to make this decision, you are looking at the entire package that each of the cities brought to the table. But I can tell you right now, the proposed capacity for Tampa is about 21,500, and I believe for Denver, it was under 20,000. I don't have the specifics in front of me.

JIM LIVENGOOD: There's a number of things. San Antonio has become very engaged with the youth of San Antonio, trying to make the Final Four, which we were incredibly impressed with, more than just a basketball tournament with four teams in it. So they have really done a spectacular job of working with the sports foundation that has a number of youth programs. That is our future and certainly they did a great job of sharing. Quite candidly we were able to view that somewhat firsthand in 1998 during the previous Final Four.

JIM LIVENGOOD: We did not in a sense. We certainly always talk about potentials down the line, there's no question. But we try to make sure that we don't get too far ahead of ourselves with discussion about current tenants and so on, the bidding the feasibility, the condition has always become important but we try to be very careful. I don't want to lead you in the direction that a lot of the discussion was held on the Colts end.