TOURNEY GENERATES BOOM IN TOURISM; FINAL FOUR BRINGS NEARLY $500,000 TO LOCAL ECONOMY

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Southeast Missouri State University officials expect this weekend's NCAA Division II Women's National Championship will add nearly $500,000 to the local economy.

"This is really a tight, conservative figure," said Marvin Rosengarten, director of University Development at Southeast. "It doesn't include if somebody goes out and buys something at the mall.

"It's hard to say how these teams, or the people coming in to the tournament will spend their money."

Rosengarten said he expects the national championship tournament, being held here today and Saturday, will bring about $476,000 to the city. To arrive at the figure, Rosengarten said he used a "spending formula" from economic impact proposals he's drafted from past NCAA Regional Men's Tournaments held in Cape Girardeau.

"In 1987, when we figured it for a men's tournament, they had eight teams and it was a half-million dollars," he said. "This time there's only four teams, and it still comes out to $476,000."

Rosengarten said the $476,000 figure is derived from the amount of money teams and their fans are expected to spend on motel rooms, meals and for other goods and services. It also includes anticipated ticket sales for the four games.

He said crowds totaling 5,500 to 6,000 are expected tonight and Saturday at the Show Me Center. Today's games will pit North Dakota State against Bentley of Massachusetts at 6 p.m., and the host Southeast Missouri State Indians against Norfolk State of Virginia at 8 p.m.

Tonight's losers will play for third place at 6 p.m. Saturday, while the winners will meet at 8 p.m. for the Division II national title.

The three visiting teams each will bring 20 players and staff and likely will draw a few hundred fans, Rosengarten said.

Pete Poe, manager of Cape Girardeau's Drury Lodge, said the teams will spend nearly $11,000 on motel rooms alone.

"I would expect that with fans and followers, it would probably go to three or four times that number," he added.

Poe said that if the teams were closer to Cape Girardeau geographically, the city would enjoy more economic benefit from hosting the event.

"Unfortunately, the three teams coming in are coming from so far away they can't enjoy the luxury of bringing large crowds," he said.

"But any time you get the opportunity to host some type of national tournament, it's only going to help your university and community.

"It's a real feather in Cape Girardeau's cap."

Robert Hendrix, president of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce, said it's difficult to say what impact the tournament will have on the city's economy since it's the first national championship held here.

"We haven't had a Final Four ever, consequently, we're not able to really say how much impact it will have economically," he said. "But one thing we do know is it will be great for us in terms of exposure for the community.

"The boost in Cape Girardeau's image can be as good a shot to us as the shot to the economy."

Ron Hines, sports information director at Southeast, said an ESPN television crew of about 30 also will make the trip to Cape Girardeau for the tournament.

Hines said the crowds that will attend the tournament will buy gasoline, food and souvenirs during the two-day event. "Sure it's going to have a big economic impact," he added.

Poe and Hines also said the tournament will help promote Cape Girardeau and the university nationally.

"Any time you're on national television, it's a big plus," said Hines. "ESPN is going to broadcast the championship game.

"Hopefully, we'll be playing in it, but even if we don't, it will be in our building so that's great exposure for the university."

Poe said Cape Girardeau's image will benefit from the distinction of hosting a national championship.

"This is one of only four such tournaments in the country, so we're only one of four such cities in the country that get to host something of this magnitude," he said. "It speaks well of Cape Girardeau."

Poe also is a member of the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau Advisory Board. He said the bureau and Drury Lodge have planned special activities for the visitors.

"We'll be doing some special things for the teams," he said. "We're going to set up a hospitality room and provide some extra transportation.

"We're also working on setting something up over at (West Park Mall) to let some of the players maybe take the opportunity to do some shopping."

The Convention and Visitors Bureau also provided bus tours of Cape Girardeau Thursday for the teams.