Casino Connection Atlantic City

This Championship Season

Why Atlantic City’s a natural for March Madness

by Dave Bontempo

March Madness invades Atlantic City March 12-15. Boardwalk Hall will host the Atlantic 10 Men’s Basketball championship, crowning an automatic entrant into the NCAA postseason tournament that begins the following week.

For basketball fans, this is the ultimate smorgasbord: 11 games in four days, including four games apiece on March 12 and March 13. For alumni, it’s a great excuse to come gamble in Atlantic City.

But for Jeff Vasser, executive director of the Atlantic City Convention and Visitors Authority, who landed the event last year, this is an interesting gamble with an upside. If ticket sales and concessions generate a minimum of $800,000, the ACCVA will have brought thousands of people here, at no financial risk.

Tickets are reasonably priced between $25 and $55 per session. Familiarity alone should boost sales. Ditto the improved A-10, which sported four teams in the top 25 at one point during the season. Xavier, Dayton and Rhode Island were red-hot and nationally ranked heading into the homestretch, and they weren’t even leading the A-10.

“We’ve created the perfect storm for good basketball at the end of the season,” says Ray Cella, associate commissioner of the A-10.

“There was a down period in the last couple of seasons, when many teams lost star players to graduation. They have been rebuilding, and it’s a real good league right now. In terms of national recognition, the A-10 is back up where it belongs.”

In the spirit of championship play, let’s track the A-10 saga using some significant basketball terms.

TIP OFF

The games begin March 12 at noon. There are afternoon and evening doubleheaders March 12 and March 13, followed by two games on the 14th and the finals March 15.

Who plays whom? Look at the seedings. Twelve teams actually qualify for the tournament. The top four seeds receive a bye into the quarterfinals. Here’s how the schedule stacks up.

Opening Round • March 12

Noon -- 8 versus 9 seed

2:30 p.m.-- 5 versus 12 seed

6:30 p.m. -- 7 versus 10 seed

9 p.m. -- 6 versus 11 seed

The break between games is listed for 23 minutes. Winners on this day join the four teams who had a bye and comprise the field of eight for the quarterfinals.

Quarterfinals • March 13

Games at Noon, 2:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m. & 9 p.m.

Winners from this round comprise the A-10’s Final Four.

Championship Rounds • March 14-15

Semifinals: March 14, 6:30 p.m. & 9 p.m.

Championship: March 15 at 6 p.m.

There is no consolation game for third place.

FULL COURT PRESS

That's what the city did this year. It attended A-10 games during the season, passing out package information directly to the schools. This gave Atlantic City an earlier marketing start than last year. Casinos also became involved. Andy Swenson, vice president of marketing for Harrah’s Atlantic City, says Bally’s offered a $1,199 package with four-night room packages, two tickets to every game, and coupon books for its shops and the Pier at Caesars. Harrah’s made the same offer for $100 less.

“We put it on our website and the ACCVA and Boardwalk Hall websites, and we’d like to do what we can to grow this tournament,” Swenson says. “We’re getting the word out about the ticket packages, as are Boardwalk Hall and the ACCVA. We’re telling people, ‘Come on in, this is great.’ It really is. This tournament is in its infancy, and we think it will survive and thrive in the city.”

Casino involvement centered mostly on high-roller parties last year. Swenson noticed that the tournament provided approximately 1,000 room nights at Bally’s last year.

“That equated to perhaps 250 to 300 new customers as a result of the tournament,” he observes. “This year we not only helped with the packages, but targeted alumni groups. We’re utilizing all four of our properties.”

The move guarantees at least some future business. Every new customer generated will probably result in at least two or three Atlantic City visits over the course of each following year.

SLAM DUNK

The deal between the ACCVA and the A-10 provided a $700,000 guarantee to the conference for at least two years and delivered the marketing support. The Atlantic City group provided the same money to A-10 that it had granted Miss America.

While other cities like Dayton, Ohio, offered substantially more money, Atlantic City had two wild cards. One was the lineup of shopping and gaming outside of basketball. Two was the issue it sought to parlay into a permanent home for the tournament. Neutrality reigns supreme here. One prior complaint among coaches was about playing in the final, with an NCAA berth at stake, in the opponents’ gym.

Boardwalk Hall is not home to any of the teams, although three Philadelphia teams reside 60-70 miles away.

Throughout the winter, the A-10 and AC were closing in on a three-year extension, which would result in Atlantic City hosting the tournament five straight years. That’s practically ownership.

THREE- POINTER

Although Atlantic City is a neutral site, attendance gets a huge spike if a Philadelphia team reaches the weekend round. St. Joseph’s, LaSalle and Temple fans won’t mind a 70-mile trip here and would bring Boardwalk Hall close to a sellout.

FREE THROWS

Some added points come with the Walk getting involved in the Fun Fest, giving people a place to hang out, with discounts on shopping.

BUZZER BEATER

Atlantic City wants to complete the three-year extension before Linda Bruno resigns as commissioner in June. Although the next commissioner may favor keeping the deal in Atlantic City, Bruno forged the original deal with Vasser.

CHAMPIONSHIP

George Washington is the defending tournament champion. The A-10 spans eight states and the District of Columbia. Its 14 teams are at Temple, Xavier, St. Joseph’s, St. Bonaventure, LaSalle, University of North Carolina Charlotte, Duquesne, Fordham, UMass, Dayton, St. Louis, George Washington, Rhode Island and Richmond.

HALL HOSTS WRESTLING

The New Jersey State High School Wrestling championships are at Boardwalk Hall March 7-9. The preliminaries are March 7 starting at 5 p.m. The biggest action is March 8 with sessions at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. The consolations and finals unfold at 10 a.m. March 9.

The finals occur in 14 weight classes, from 103 pounds to heavyweight. They culminate a season for grapplers that began in November. Although casinos don’t heavily push the pre-gambling high school market, parents of wrestlers stay at the properties.