Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

State tournament goes south

It's tough to be a Mucker.

The Virginia City boys' basketball team headed south today for this weekend's state tournament in Las Vegas. But when the bus finally reaches Las Vegas after an eight-hour bus ride, the Muckers will drive right through town, heading instead for a hotel in Jean.

"We had difficulty finding enough rooms where we could get the kids and parents in the same place for less than $150 a night," Virginia City High principal Todd Hess said. "We called two travel agents and couldn't find any rooms anywhere, so we're going down to Jean. It's the only place we could find enough rooms."

Hess, whose high school of 153 students is spending about $5,000 to travel to the tournament, doesn't blame Las Vegas. He and other school officials just didn't know the Muckers would be competing here until this week.

But even schools that did make prior arrangements have similar stories. The 4A competitors from Washoe County -- the Galena boys' team and Reno's girls -- flew into Las Vegas Wednesday night on what was the last trip by air the Reno-area school district will make when sending teams to tournaments in Southern Nevada. They're staying at a Travelodge.

Even Battle Mountain athletic director Paul Tremayne, whose girls' team will be staying at the Orleans hotel, has some frustrations.

"It'd be nice to be in a venue where we could play in the same venue every day," Tremayne said. "Last year we won the thing, we had to play at North Valleys on the first day, and the second day we're playing at Lawlor Events Center. It's a totally different thing, especially for kids from small towns."

Hoops City Reno

The state tournament moved to Lawlor, on the UNR campus, in 1989, after lackluster attendance in Las Vegas prompted a one-year stop in Carson City.

It was a hit, particularly when Northern teams were involved. The 1992 championship, featuring future Kansas player Jarod Haase from South Tahoe and future UNR player Prince Fowler from Western, drew more than 10,000 fans. The 1987 final, featuring Galena, drew more than 8,000.

The fact that Northern fans love their basketball was never in dispute. Even last week's Northern Region tournament at Reno High School was standing-room only, with some published reports estimating 1,000 people turned away.

But the boys' championship game hasn't featured a Northern team since that 1997 Galena team. NIAA executive director Jerry Hughes said last year's final, in which Palo Verde beat Foothill, had fewer than 2,000 people in attendance.

Still, Reno embraced the tournament. It was featured prominently on the local evening news and was a significant event for rural schools in Northern Nevada.

Tremayne said he doesn't expect fan support to be as good for his team this year.

"I think we'll have a pretty good following, but if it was in Reno it'd be a bigger turnout," he said. "There are probably more alumni that live in the Reno area. They can commute and go for a day. Some kind of whined about the price (in Las Vegas), but then some of them look at it like a mini-vacation."

Sharing the costs

This is the first year a new NIAA policy of alternating state tournaments between Northern and Southern Nevada. Football, basketball and baseball were all scheduled in Las Vegas this year.

Although that puts a pinch on schools such as Virginia City and Pyramid Lake, where small budgets are compensated by a short commute in and out of Reno, the trip to Reno for the Clark County School District was an expensive proposition.

The district spent $20,000 per year to send basketball teams to the Reno area, between the bus costs, hotel rooms and per diem expenses. Last year, five Clark County teams traveled to the state tournament. Under the current format, as many as eight public school teams from Clark County could qualify to travel to Reno.

But despite the significantly lower room rates -- hotel rooms tonight just a mile from Lawlor start as low as $30 -- few Southern parents made the trek north.

"It gives the local parents and fans an opportunity to see the tournament," said CCSD athletic director Bill Garis. "We showcase basketball locally because we have some incredible talent down here. It's too bad we have to run a tournament in Reno in order to keep it fiscally responsible."

For Washoe County School District athletic director Eddie Bonine, the move to Southern Nevada isn't that big of a change.

"We're used to doing it for every sport but basketball," Bonine said. "The two schools are pretty excited about going down, playing in the Orleans. I really think the rotation is beneficial."

Not everyone is so happy. A recent column written by NevadaPrep.com editor Chuck Hildebrand, the guru of everything Nevada high school sports outside of the Southern 4A, called Orleans room rates a "classic Vegas price gouge" and said the tournament organizers have put out a "minefield" instead of a welcome mat.

The room rates at the Orleans quoted to the NIAA and tournament teams were $70 for Wednesday and Thursday, and $109 for Friday and Saturday. That's comparable to what visiting ECHL teams pay when they are in Las Vegas to play the Wranglers at the Orleans Arena.

Will they come back?

Garis, who is also a member of the NIAA's Board of Control, said the association is taking a wait-and-see approach to this year's tournament.

"We want to see how things turn out before we make any kind of judgments," he said.

Hughes said he hasn't heard any complaints about the travel costs.

"I don't think there are many people staying at the Orleans, but I understand that 70 bucks is a lot of money for a high school athletic program," Hughes said. "When you look across the board, you could get a room in Winnemucca for 30 bucks or 40 bucks, and I think there's places in Vegas you can get a room for that as well. We're certainly positive. We hope we can get some people to come to the games."

Hess said he would have liked to have had some options as a late-booking school.

"I think the NIAA could work with some of the casinos better, as far as booking up large blocks of rooms knowing how many of those are going to get taken," he said. "I'm sure they tried that with the Orleans and with other places, butthey just got all booked up ... I wish the Orleans could have blocked out rooms for just high school kids early, but they've got to make a buck, too."

If it plays in Peoria ...

But how will the event draw?

Orleans Arena general manager Steve Stallworth said that fewer than 2,000 tickets have been sold for the three-day tournament, but he wasn't concerned because pre-sale on general admission events is generally low.

"Our only real risk is we want to get our expenses covered," Stallworth said. "I think if we can get some decent food and beverage numbers, we'll be protected there. We didn't charge rent and we're trying not to lose on it. The sponsorships have been fabulous; this community has stepped up."

The NIAA allowed the Orleans to sell sponsorships of the event in order to help the arena recover some of the costs of hosting. Stallworth also estimated that the arena has posted more than $10,000 worth of advertising around town, ranging from billboards on the side of the arena and during other events, to advertisements on plasma screen televisions at Coast Casinos properties.

Hughes said he's trying to keep the tournament attendance in perspective.

"Our typical gates at Lawlor have been between $50,000 and $70,000 for the whole tournament," he said. "You look at anyplace else and that's not great, but Nevada's Nevada. The reality is, we have a big state and it's far away."

Vacation, if nothing else

For many of the athletes participating in this weekend's events at Del Sol and Durango high schools and at the Orleans Arena, this will be their first trip to Las Vegas. Across the board, there is a buzz about the tournament's move.

"We're extremely excited about Las Vegas," Hess said. "Parents are extremely excited about getting to Las Vegas, too. They want to stay with the kids, enjoy it with the kids. As a coach, we're having a difficult time making sure everyone knows we're not down there for a vacation. Most people will try to roll it into at least a personal vacation."

Tremayne, the Battle Mountain athletic director, said he looks at the tournament as more of a reward.

"You work hard all season, you're there, and you want to be there for the right reasons -- to win," he said. "But we'll allow the kids some time to go to a movie, watch other games, be a part of the tournament. It's an experience, like when teams go to the Super Bowl -- it's a big type of event."

He said that's what separates this event from past tournaments in Reno, which could be one-day affairs when he was coaching at 1A Austin.

"You'd drive there, lose your game and drive home -- that doesn't seem like much of an experience," he said. "This way we get to feel like this was kind of a reward for what we did."

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