
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, March 26, 1990                   TAG: 9003262013
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DENVER                                LENGTH: Medium

FINAL FOUR MEANS BIG BUCKS FOR HOST CITY

For the four teams that survived the far-flung and grueling NCAA regional tournaments, the road stops here and the city hopes the bucks - up to 25 million of them - stop here, too.

The most optimistic projections by the Greater Denver Chamber of Commerce and the Denver Organizing Committee are that the 20,000 fans, players, coaches, reporters and tourists will spend nearly $25 million when the Final Four basketball tournament comes to town.

"It will be the biggest hotel weekend in the eight years I've been doing business here," said Harold Levin, general manager of the Executive Tower Inn in downtown Denver. "These people aren't ordinary consumers. They're not rate-conscious like a lot of people who come in for conventions. They'll spend more money than any other group in a very long time."

Organizing committee officials say nearly 90 percent of downtown Denver's 16,000 hotel rooms are booked for the tournament. Usually at this time of year hotels are only half full.

Over the course of the tournament, hotels will pull in about $12 million, the organizing committee said. Cabs, limousines, buses and rental cars could receive as much as $1.4 million and retail sales along the 16th Street Mall could jump as much as 20 percent.

City officials, supported by an army of volunteers - most of whom won't get to see any of the basketball action - are doing their best to make sure the visitors get a good impression of the Mile High City.

Denver's red carpet treatment for visitors will begin at Stapleton International Airport where volunteers dressed in Final Four "uniforms" will be circulating in all five of the concourses to guide visitors to the baggage claim area and provide information about skiing, shopping and dining out.

Among activities planned especially for the Final Four fans are an all-star basketball game between the nation's top senior college players on Thursday, the NCAA's "YES" basketball clinic for 500 boys and girls on March 31, a noon Friday pep rally for the four colleges along the 16th Street Mall and a "ski train special" to take 750 Final Four officials and fans to Winter Park for a day of skiing for $39.

Boosters also are counting on longer-term benefits from the media attention.

"This is capturing more media attention for Denver than the city has ever gotten," said Rich Grant of the Metro Denver Visitors and Conventions Bureau.

by CNB