Keeping a close eye on the Kingdome kinks

Sporting News, The, Sept 5, 1994 by Gene Wojciechowski

If the King County Commission thinks the $4.1-million check recently written to the Mariners is a lot, just think what it will be if the Kingdome isn't ready for April's Final Four.

NCAA officials aren't squirming yet, but it is obvious the continuing saga to replace the ceiling tiles inside the 18-year-old Kingdome has earned their attention.

"Are we concerned?" says Bill Hancock, NCAA director of the Division I men's basketball championship and the person responsible for overseeing facility site operations. "It sounds naive to say no, but we're not overly concerned because we're still eight months away from our event.

"Now if it were an empty barn and was going to sit empty for eight months, then we'd be more nervous than we are."

Hancock might want to start a calendar countdown because at last check the Kingdome had been closed since July 19, which isn't exactly what King County officials had in mind when four tiles fell into the seats several hours before a Mariners-Orioles game. Since then, the county has paid the Mariners for lost revenue and might have to issue similar checks to the NFL's Seahawks if the stadium is not ready for the team's September 18 home opener.

Watching from a distance is Hancock, who talks frequency with members of Seattle's Final Four organizing committee and the Kingdome staff. He would like to believe assurances that the new tiles will be in place within 30 days, but so far no repair schedule has kept pace with the promises.

"Again, you don't want to be a Pollyanna and say everything would be fine," Hancock says.

The tile fiasco couldn't come at a worse time for the dismal, but spacious (66,000 seats) concrete Kingdome. With the NCAA committed to Final Four sites through 2002, the Seattle organizing committee can't afford any problems if it hopes to make a future bid.

In essence, this is a make-or-break situation for the Kingdome, especially with the availability of state-of-the-art facilities such as the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis, the Alamodome in San Antonio, the Thunder-Dome in St. Petersburg, Fla., and the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. Add the Metrodome in Minneapolis and the Superdome in New Orleans to the list, and you can see why King County, which operates the Kingdome, is nervous about its chances for another Final Four.

So far the NCAA is preaching calm. Asked if there existed a contingency plan for a worst-case scenario - the need for an emergency venue to replace an unsafe Kingdome - Hancock says such talk is premature.

"That's the $64 question," he says. "But at this time there's not."

Our suggestion: Put the Final Four in the Hoosier Dome and keep it there. Best basketball atmosphere. Best basketball dome. Best fans. Best solution.

Chances of it happening: zilch.

Williamson watch

Of the 50 players named to the John R. Wooden Award list of preseason candidates, only Arkansas' Corliss Williamson is a returning member of the award's 1993 All-America team.

Williamson, who led the Razorbacks to the national championship last season, is the logical favorite to succeed Glenn Robinson as consensus player of the year. Should he struggle (and he won't), Wooden voters get to choose from a remaining list that includes North Carolina's Rasheed Wallace, Wisconsin's Michael Finley, Indiana's Alan Henderson, Arkansas' Scotty Thurman and Syracuse's Lawrence Moten, among others.

If the list means anything in terms of regional power, the East and Midwest teams should do well. The Midwest featured 21 nominees, the East 15, the West nine and the Southeast five.

Tip-offs

The NCAA Council, whose legislative recommendations almost always are approved at the annual convention, is sponsoring a bill that would allow schools playing in the BCA/Martin Luther King Classic to exceed the maximum number of approved regular-season games. The legislation was introduced by the NCAA's minority opportunities and interests committee. . . . Winner of the offseason frequent-flyer mileage award goes to Southern Cal's George Raveling, who coached the U.S. team in the Goodwin Games at St. Petersburg, Russia, and now has his Trojans in Asia for a nine-game, 17-day tour that includes stops in Hong Kong; Taipei, Taiwan; and Seoul, South Korea. . . . Forward Monte Marcaccini, who accepted and then declined a scholarship offer from Indiana last year in favor of a 10-month stay with an Italian junior club, has returned home to Sherman Oaks, Calif. Marcaccini, 19, signed with Pepperdine, where he'll likely become an immediate starter. UNLV, Arizona, USC and Utah inquired about Marcaccini's plans, but Indiana passed on a second try. . . . In a televising twist, CBS will broadcast a men's-women's February doubleheader between Connecticut and Kansas at Lawrence.