Big Time adds up to big bucks

Adam Candee

Friday, July 25, 2003 | 10:05 a.m.

No matter where in the country his basketball team is playing this summer, the mission for Dexter Williams is always clear:

Find the buffet.

"I've got to look for buffets," said the coach of the Orlando Hoopsters after the team's Thursday morning game at Green Valley High School. "Any trip we take, I look for buffets. It's the first thing I ask at every hotel."

Finding that all-you-can-eat feast for his troop of 17-year-old food inhalers is obviously no problem for Williams during the adidas Big Time Tournament this week here in the buffet capital of the world. Williams tries to negotiate with the restaurant managers for lower prices in exchange for bringing his team around all week.

The buffet money is just a drop in the neon bucket for the city this week. With 400 teams in town for the five-day event, the Big Time generates about $5 million in non-gaming economic impact for the city, according to Rob Powers of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The LVCVA inputs a figure of about 8,000 people coming to Las Vegas for the tournament into its multiplier formula to come up with that figure.

Many Strip hotels are host locations for the tournament, which draws in not only players and prep coaches, but also parents, college coaches, referees and media. That means a cash flow that stretches well beyond gaming and into hotel rooms, food, rental cars and entertainment.

Those teams pay handsomely to come to the tournament as well. Williams estimates that with cross-country airfare, hotel, rental car, food, and miscellaneous costs, his team pays about $10,000 to play in Las Vegas. That cost is largely underwritten by the team's Florida sponsor, but not all teams enjoy that luxury. Williams remembers years when his teams had to wash cars and sell candy to raise money for out-of-town tournaments.

"I have to look all angles to cut down costs," Williams said.

One non-negotiable cost is the $800 entry fee charged by the Big Time. With 400 teams playing, the quick math shows revenue of $320,000 on entry fees alone. Tournament director Larry McKay said that number is put to him all the time.

"What (people) don't as easily do is (understand that we) play 1,000 games at about $120 per game," McKay said.

That cost is for referees, timers, and scorebook keepers for each game. McKay estimates that it will cost "well over $400,000" to operate the tournament this year. The Big Time also charges $10 per day for tournament entry and $200 for a college coaches' packet of tournament rosters.

The Big Time is a self-sustaining tournament that operates off the three main revenue sources already mentioned. McKay and co-director Jim Allen contract with adidas' Sonny Vaccaro to run the tournament. The shoe giant does pays the two in apparel and shoes, and adidas is not involved in the tournament profit.

A total of 56 teams sponsored by adidas take part in the tournament, and the presence of their higher-caliber players draws out college coaches. The coaches, in turn, attract more teams to attend and that draws more money into the tournament.

"It's kind of like a pyramid," McKay said.

All tournament workers are paid in cash and with apparel, with site directors compensated more for their extra work. The Big Time pays Clark County School District for use of the tournament's 15 gyms, and there is also a $25 per hour fee that goes to each school.

"There is a budget for each of the gym supervisors," McKay said. "They hire all their own workers."

The Big Time must make full financial disclosure of the tournament to the NCAA at the end of the event.