In tough economy, hoops changes mood from sad to madness

By Mark Hansel

Friday, March 27, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Bryan Terry knew it was going to take more than a sluggish economy to keep him from attending March Madness in Las Vegas this year.

Terry has visited the New York New York casino for opening weekend of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament for seven years and has watched the games from the same table at the ESPN Zone restaurant every year.

Terry’s group always includes his brothers, Jay and Trey, but this year another member of the Terry clan joined the party.

George Terry, the family patriarch, attended the event for the first time, and it was going to take a lot more than a recession to keep the group at home.

“This year was a must,” Bryan Terry said. “It’s even more special since he just picked up the check.”

Dad picking up a hefty lunch check was not the only incentive for the Terrys this year, however.

“There were some great deals out there on airfare and rooms,” Bryan Terry said. “That made it a whole lot easier.”

The Terry family is from St. Louis, but the sons, who all work at universities, have spread out across the country. Bryan is an associate vice president at Seton Hall University in New Jersey, Jay Terry is a faculty coordinator at Georgia Perimeter and Trey is in administration at Long Island University in New York. The tournament provides a once-a-year opportunity for the brothers to get together, see each other and share a few laughs.

Robert Birrell, general manager of the ESPN Zone, said the Terrys are like old friends — friends he was especially glad to see this year. Despite the talk about tourism in Las Vegas being down, he was cautiously optimistic that the opening weekend of March Madness would buck the trend.

“Just like any business, we are affected by the downturn, but sports fans are sports fans,” Birrell said. “A lot of our guests plan months in advance to come here for this.”

There were between 300 and 400 people waiting to get into the ESPN Zone, Birrell says, when the doors opened before the first-round games March 19.

Mike Blaser was invited to sit at the Terry table. Blaser, from Houston, was experiencing his first NCAA men’s tournament with his brother, Rich, who is from Gainesville, Fla.

“There were plenty of reasons not to come, but we knew we always wanted to experience a tournament here, and we just decided to go for it,” Blaser said.

Bryan Terry said that is one of the things he loves most about his March Madness experiences.

“Every year is different,” he said. “Different people and different teams, but it’s always great.”

The Super Bowl is still the biggest single betting event in Las Vegas, but for a venue such as the ESPN Zone, March Madness can be a windfall. The first weekend is the most popular because 32 games take place on Thursday and Friday and the action starts early in the morning and runs all day. For die-hard fans such as the Terrys this can translate to more than 12 hours in the Zone each day. As the tournament goes on, the number of teams is winnowed down, but the excitement escalates.

“We love the Super Bowl, but it’s one game on one day and we get a great weekend out of it,” Birrell said. “We get more e-mails and phone calls about March Madness and it lasts several weeks.”

On Thursday afternoon at 4 p.m., there was a slight lull in the action (what my boss likes to call the East Coast dinner break) with only one game in progress, but every table was still full, as was the bar, and there was a line at the door.

The ESPN Zone has more than 130 high definition TVs, including two 14-foot televisions and a dozen smaller screens in the Screening Room, which offers a premier viewing experience that includes tiered seating and “Zone Throne” recliners.

For fans who need a break from the action, the second floor features a 10,000-square-foot Sports Arena with interactive and competitive games.

It seems as if every team in the tournament (and a few that were not) was represented somewhere in the Zone.

At one table a group of 40-something guys in Villanova shirts were loudly cheering, while at another a group of younger fans in an array of jerseys, who looked as if they might actually still be in college, were taking a more laid-back approach.

When the final numbers for this year’s tournament are tallied, it’s likely that the revenue will be lower than in previous years. There will be fewer hotel rooms filled and the dollars wagered will also likely be down, and that will make news in some quarters.

For guys like Mike Blaser, who experienced his first March Madness here, or the Terrys who got to enjoy the tournament in Las Vegas for the first time with their dad, however, that hardly mattered.

Mark Hansel covers retail and marketing for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. He can be reached at 259-4069 or at [email protected].