The money game

Focus in New Orleans more on cash than competition

NEW ORLEANS -- Rest assured, ladies and gentlemen, the NCAA is drawing the line on one thing this Final Four: no cat fights.

“There was a request that the next generation of Miller [Lite] cat-fight commercials be put on the air," said NCAA president Myles Brand. "We exercised our option in the contract with CBS not to permit that."

In all other areas, though, the atmosphere at the 2003 Final Four can be described in one word: $$$$$$$$$$$$$.

"I noticed that," said Kansas guard Michael Lee. "We were walking along Bourbon Street and I was talking to [teammate] Stephen Vinson, and I was like, 'Man, look at all the money they’re making off this.'

"You see people selling T-shirts, basketballs -- they don’t know anything about our team; they don’t know any of our names; they just know we’re in the Final Four and they’re going to make some money off us."

Welcome to the NCAA’s annual walking contradiction, the time of year when figures from all walks of the sport congregate to crown a new champion and celebrate all that is great about intercollegiate athletics.

Never mind that they’re doing it in a city unofficially devoted to adult mischief.

On one hand, New Orleans would seem the most heinous place imaginable to host an event centered around kids under 21 years of age. But in reality, it’s perfect.

The Final Four is less a basketball tournament than it is a festival -- "a zoo," as Syracuse’s Gerry McNamara puts it -- and what better place for 60,000-plus visitors to be festive and spend lots of $$$$?

None of this is any big secret, of course. College sports went commercial long before Cingular or Pontiac or any of this year’s other gazillion NCAA corporate partners opened their checkbooks.

But it’s become a renewed topic of late because the new sheriff in town, Brand, is talking big about reform in college athletics. And many of those who champion reform feel it must start with the commercialization.

"You can be excessive in commercialization," Brand said at his Final Four news conference Thursday. "I don’t believe we are in this tournament."

It’s hard to share that assessment after you’ve taken a stroll down Bourbon Street.

Nestled in between the usual establishments devoted to hurricanes and hand grenades, places one goes to see "topless and bottomless" or "wash the girl of your choice," official Final Four merchandise is being sold out of every nook and cranny. Any previously abandoned floor space is now a showcase for the NCAA logo.

Brand is quick to point out that "approximately 95 percent of all the revenue goes back to the schools."

But that doesn’t explain the street peddler who makes more money off the Final Four selling one T.J. Ford replica jersey than does T.J. Ford.

Amazingly, though, amid all the madness, Ford and the rest of the players interviewed Friday seem blissfully unaffected. While many of their classmates will spend the weekend living out an installment of Girls Gone Wild, they somehow remain focused on the task at hand.

All four teams got Bourbon Street out of their system Wednesday or Thursday and will spend most of their remaining time sequestered in their hotel rooms, breaking down Syracuse’s zone or Kansas’ fast break.

"Until I got here, I didn’t realize the Final Four was this serious," said Texas’ James Thomas. "This is every kid’s dream. This is what we play for. We shouldn’t be thinking about anything else."

And that, in a nutshell, is the message the NCAA would like you to receive.

You’ve seen the public service announcements, the ones that show proud, confident student-athletes who are getting an education, preparing for life and having some fun with their athletic abilities.

Never mind that the ones here this week are helping faceless entrepreneurs sell T-shirts, boosting beer sales on Bourbon Street, generating millions in ad sales for CBS and …

Aaaah, my head hurts. Enough already.

So what if some greedy fat cats are going to get rich off this thing. Fact is, it’s going to be fun for all involved.

Four great teams are going to play their hearts out. The fans are going to go nuts. We sportswriters are going to stuff ourselves with creole and expense it.

And everyone gets to enjoy the pleasures of New Orleans.

Well, almost everyone.

"I’d like to come back here sometime," said Kansas’ Lee. "When I’m older."

Stewart Mandel covers college sports for SI.com.

Got a comment, question or scoop for Stewart? Click here.

 

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