Monday, March 10, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Even with UNLV bowing out of the quarterfinals and Fresno State an early casualty, Western Athletic Conference and Las Vegas Events officials are giving Las Vegas a thumbs-up for supporting the WAC Tournament last week.
"The WAC Tournament at a new site with new teams has been a tremendous success," said commissioner Karl Benson. "The fans have embraced this tournament and if we took this tournament out of Las Vegas, we'd hear from a lot of fans."
Approximately 13,000 all-session tickets were sold. Despite UNLV falling to Tulsa in the quarterfinals and Jerry Tarkanian's embattled Fresno State team also losing in the quarters, the men's tournament won by Utah averaged 8,239 a session.
Tucker DiEdwardo, outgoing president of Las Vegas Events which paid $1 million to host the weeklong event, said his group will likely break even from the venture.
"Obviously, if UNLV and Fresno were still in it, we'd have done better," he said. "But I thought it was fantastic. I'm really proud of the local fans who came out Friday night."
The Utah-New Mexico semifinal, won in dramatic fashion on a last-second shot by Utah All-American Keith Van Horn, drew 11,664, the biggest single crowd of the tourney. Saturday's championship game between Utah and Texas Christian attracted 10,101.
"You can't judge a tournament's success by total attendance," Benson said. "In Albuquerque, the host team got to the championship game. But I think what we saw Friday without the home team was tremendous. We had a walk-up of over 2,500, and I would assume most of that was local.
"One reason we felt Las Vegas could be successful was we didn't need the extra 4,000-5,000 to make the tournament a financial success."
Still, there were complaints from some coaches and media about hosting the tournament in the gambling mecca of the world. Benson dismissed the notion that gaming interferes with staging an athletic event here.
"Can the WAC championships in football, basketball and volleyball coexist in Las Vegas? My answer is 'yes,'" he said. "We can separate the event from the gaming side.
"As for where our teams stay, we don't need to apologize. The tournament is not for our coaches. It's for our student-athletes and our fans."
Benson said he will look into the possibility of giving teams that prefer to stay at properties that do not feature casinos that option. For now, the WAC has contracts with several Strip hotels. With the tournament set to return in 1998, he wasn't sure how much manipulating can be done.
As for the women's tournament, which was won by San Diego State, the crowds were sparse in relation to the men's event. However, Saturday's championship game drew 2,100, and 7,461 attended the five sessions.
Benson said there are no plans to segregate the women's tournament from the men's. But he did say if the trends point to a total lack of support for the women, another venue might be in order.
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