Plenty of seats available for St. Louis sub-regional

ST. LOUIS -- The good news for St. Louis NCAA organizers: they've sold 22,000 all-session tickets for the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament.

"This new format is positive, it's successful," tournament director Joe Mitch said Wednesday. "It's what the teams want and the fans want."

The bad news: The Edward Jones Dome could be just over half-full for today's four-game marathon. The Dome, which holds 65,000 for St. Louis Rams game, is configured to hold 39,000 for the early-round games in the Midwest and East Regionals.

St. Louis and Albuquerque are the only sub-regional sites that haven't sold out.

Missouri Valley Conference commissioner Doug Elgin, whose conference runs the tournament, is hoping for a big walkup Thursday that perhaps hikes the total to 30,000. Another factor that could hike sales is that single-session tickets went on sale Wednesday.

Still, he's disappointed, considering that Kansas and Kentucky -- major powers within easy driving distance -- are in the field. The NCAA went to a pod system, placing teams close to home in hopes of increasing attendance in the early rounds.

"The fact we're sitting on less than 30,000 is totally surprising to me," Elgin said. "I really thought when I saw the pairings that we'd have 45,000 people, minimum."

Organizers purchased new seats and customized a seating bowl in preparation for this and future regionals, plus the 2005 Final Four. Elgin believes the new setup, used only for a junior college game as a dry run in December, also would draw more fans.

"The city of St. Louis hasn't seen this configuration," Elgin said. "This is the best seating configuration for a dome in the country, and this is the best venue in the country for a Final Four."

St. Louis has an impressive attendance history in the NCAA tournament. The city holds the record for a single game in a regional final, drawing 42,519 for eventual national champion Michigan State vs. Kentucky in 1999. It also has the best single-session draw, getting 42,440 for the regional semifinals that year that also featured Oklahoma and Miami of Ohio.

In 1999, when Kentucky beat Kansas in New Orleans to earn a trip to St. Louis, organizers sold 12,000 tickets in 36 hours.

"We burned up the phone system," Elgin said.