Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 11, 1991 TAG: 9103110052
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Danny Monk went home to Blacksburg on Sunday, with the 16th annual Metro Conference basketball tournament he directed a nice memory.
"I'm going home to see my wife [Donna] and to see Barney and Bitsey and Fluff [the Monk dogs and cat]," the Virginia Tech associate athletic director said before leaving his Roanoke Airport Marriott residence of the past week. "I'm going to sleep and read."
Was he going to watch basketball?
"Probably not," Monk said.
For two years and one week, since arriving at the 1989 Metro tourney in Columbia, S.C., Monk has been consumed by the '91 Metro. He wanted success. For the most part, he got it. The tournament, won by Florida State on Saturday night, was a critical success for its hosts, the city of Roanoke and Tech.
"The people here have done an outstanding job," Metro commissioner Ralph McFillen said before Saturday night's title game at the Roanoke Civic Center. "Roanoke wanted to make this a special Metro tournament, and it's been one of the best in the history of the Metro.
"We didn't have the kind of crowds we might have had other years in other places, but this was a tournament atmosphere. You go downtown and you see Metro flags flying and signs in businesses. You see people in restaurants and out partying and they're wearing school colors.
"They had the festival tent [on the civic center plaza] and a cheer and dance championship. The civic center here made a great turnaround. The complete refurbishing of the building is something that helped not only the Metro, but helped Roanoke.
"It was more than the big things that made an impact. The national anthem tonight, with the barbershop quartet group singing, it was that kind of touch that made this special. The hospitality was wonderful. You can't find enough compliments for Danny and his committee people, men like John Clarke, Jess Newbern and Lu Merritt."
Raycom Sports play-by-play announcer Fred White has covered numerous college basketball tournaments, including the ACC, the Big Eight, the Southeastern and the Metro. "This tournament, the way people have gone out of their way to make it first class, the hospitality, it's the best I've ever been to," White said.
What wasn't the best - the only downer for the '91 Metro - was a lack of ticket sales. The average sale for the four sessions was 7,018. That's the second-lowest in Metro history, next to the 1979 tourney at Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis.
The total ticket sale was 28,072, only 71 percent of capacity. Roanoke had the fourth eight-team tournament in Metro history, but the event sold only 500 more tickets than a five-team Metro did two years ago at South Carolina. A tournament ticket was priced at $87, including two-game sessions for $24 and $15 for the championship game.
The '91 Metro won't come close to breaking even financially, and needs a waiver on a $600,000 guarantee from the Metro. McFillen indicated he would support an expected request from the Roanoke-Tech contingent to have the guarantee reduced because of the turmoil in the last year in the Metro. Within a two-month span last autumn, four members announced they were joining other conferences.
"It's been a tough year, and if they [Roanoke and Tech] can't make the numbers work out, then I'd imagine we'd work with them," McFillen said.
Between ticket sales and corporate sponsorships, the '91 Metro grossed about $690,000. Monk said that in addition to the $600,000 Metro guarantee, the tournament expenses should be in the $200,000 range.
"We are going to pay all of our bills, and then we're going to see what's left and talk to the Metro," Monk said. "We did our best job, and the Metro people know that. The teams leaving hurt us.
"If the tournament had been played anywhere other than Louisville or Memphis and those teams had off years and the home team did, too [Virginia Tech had its third straight losing season], I think the ticket situation would have brought a similar response as here."
McFillen said any change in the Metro guarantee would be handled by the conference's joint committee. Tech must file the tournament financial statement with the Metro by April 25.
Monk said a Dominion Bank $600,000 letter of credit commitment to the Metro included an agreement that Dominion would pay $100,000 if the Metro guarantee wasn't met. Monk doesn't expect Dominion will have to pay, however, because of the Metro's mindset after seeing the otherwise success of the Roanoke tournament.
The '91 Metro Festival Tent that spanned the plaza between the civic center buildings was a money-maker, said Laban Johnson, the city's special events director. The tent was Johnson's idea, and fans filled the 210-foot by 60-foot temporary facility to party, eat and drink before, between and after games.
"The tent far exceeded my expectations," Johnson said.
In four days, the Virginia Lottery sold more than 10,000 tickets, Johnson said. Blue Ridge Beverage drained 100 half-barrels of Miller beer.
The Metro tournament returns to Louisville's Freedom Hall again next year, for the seventh time in 17 seasons. With Metro membership changing - UNC Charlotte and South Florida will give the Metro six members for next season - McFillen said he wasn't certain whether the conference would continue to rotate tournament sites in the future.
Would the Metro consider returning to Roanoke down the road?
"Unquestionably, yes," McFillen said. "I wouldn't hesitate at all to recommend a return here."
Louisville athletic director Bill Olsen, whose school this week will host part of the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament, said his Roanoke visit was an eye-opener.
"On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the best, this is a 10," Olsen said. "The community involvement . . . everywhere you go in the whole area it's evident there's a Metro Conference tournament going on - the signage in the community, people being friendly, it really makes a difference.
"I think we've always taken great pride in trying to do things in a first-class way [when Louisville hosts the tourney]. It's been every bit as good as anything we've put on.
"I was really concerned when the Metro made the decision to rotate the tournaments; I was concerned about Southern Mississippi's and Virginia Tech's ability to host. Southern Miss was outstanding; they were able to take it to the [Gulf] Coast. I was concerned when we came here in the fall, but then I met John Clarke, Lu Merritt, Jess Newbern. Then I was concerned about the [condition of the] arena . . . but after talking to everybody, I was really not worried. When I came back, it was hard to believe."
Olsen said he visited the Homestead, drove on the Blue Ridge Parkway and stood on the Mill Mountain overlook.
"Everywhere I go, there are signs. Roanoke couldn't have done this on its own," he said,
by CNB