Rose Garden to Host 2009 NCAA? Men's Basketball First and Second Rounds

THREE-SESSION TICKET PACKAGES ON SALE MONDAY

Event: 2009 NCAA^? Division I Men’s Basketball Championship - First and Second Rounds

When: Thu, March 19 & Sat, March 21, 2009 ● Times TBD

Where: Rose Quarter ? Rose Garden

Portland, Oregon

Tickets: Three-session packages are priced at $165.00 plus applicable service fees and include a ticket for two sessions on Thursday and one session on Saturday, for a total of three tickets for six games. Tickets go on sale on Monday, March 24, 2008 and can be purchased through NCAA.com. For more information please visit NCAA.com or RoseQuarter.com.

What: The Rose Garden was selected to host the 2009 NCAA^? Division I Men’s Basketball Championship first and second round games by the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee. Twenty-four cities will serve as hosts for the first and second round and regional games in 2009 and 2010. Games will be played at the Rose Garden on Thursday, March 19 and Saturday, March 21, 2009 with the University of Oregon being the host school.

“We are thrilled to be the host venue for the 2009 Men’s first and second round games,” stated Mike Scanlon, General Manager of the Global Spectrum-managed Rose Quarter. “It took a lot of hard work by a number of individuals in order to bring this tournament back to Oregon, including the University of Oregon, the Oregon Sports Authority, the City of Portland, Portland Arena Management and Travel Portland.”

This is the first time the Rose Garden will host an NCAA Tournament. The last NCAA tournament games played in Oregon were 25 years ago in Corvallis, which were also the first and second round games. However, it will have been 34 years since Portland last hosted an NCAA Tournament (1975 NCAA Regionals).

"Obviously this was something already in place before my arrival here but as an Oregon native as well as my role at the University of Oregon, this is something that will reap tremendous dividends for the entire state," said the Ducks' Director of Athletics Pat Kilkenny. "The NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament has evolved into one of the greatest sporting events in the country and for fans throughout the state and the Pacific Northwest to be able to experience this first hand is truly amazing. It is our hope that this becomes an event in the state we can assist with on a regular basis."

Because of Oregon’s previous authorization of state-sanctioned sports lottery games, it has been 25 years since Oregon last hosted the NCAA Tournament. In 2005, the Oregon Sports Authority introduced a legislative bill to eliminate the state’s sports lottery games while also increasing funding for college athletics. The non-profit organization secured passage of the bill in the Oregon Legislature and then partnered with the University of Oregon, the Rose Quarter and Travel Portland to assemble and submit the successful bid to the NCAA.

"It's truly a thrill to know that we are just one year way from the long-awaited return of March Madness? to Oregon," said Drew Mahalic, CEO of the Oregon Sports Authority. "The anticipated arrival of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, along with its substantial economic impact, represents one of the Oregon Sports Authority’s most meaningful accomplishments on behalf of this state."

As selected by the committee in 2003, Detroit is the host of the 2009 Final Four? and Indianapolis is the site of the 2010 Final Four.

Official NCAA-sanctioned ticket and hospitality packages are also available by visiting www.ncaa.com/hospitality or calling 800/591-9198. Hospitality packages include pregame and in-game hospitality.

The NCAA reminds fans that purchasing tickets from secondary, unauthorized vendors may result in fraudulent purchases. Fans are encouraged to purchase tickets from NCAA member institutions or companies authorized by the NCAA to sell or resell championship tickets.

University of Oregon
Celebrating 132 years of educating future leaders, the University of Oregon was founded in 1876 in the southern Willamette Valley. It now offers students higher education in the College of Arts and Sciences, six professional schools and colleges, and the Graduate School. The University's Department of Athletics will offer intercollegiate athletics at the NCAA Division I level in 19 sports beginning in the 2008-09 year, with baseball representing the Ducks' first athletic program in 1877. Oregon added basketball to its list of intercollegiate sports in 1902-03 and won the first NCAA basketball championship ever held, 46-33 over Ohio State in Evanston, Ill. The University of Oregon is an equal-opportunity, affirmative-action institution committed to cultural diversity and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Rose Quarter

The Rose Quarter in Portland, OR is owned by an affiliate of the Portland Trail Blazers and managed by Global Spectrum. The Rose Quarter includes 20,000-seat Rose Garden, 12,000-seat Memorial Coliseum, 6,500-seat Theater of the Clouds, 40,000-square foot Exhibit Hall and the Rose Quarter Commons. Home to the NBA Portland Trail Blazers and the NLL Portland LumberJax, the Rose Garden is a $262 million multi-purpose arena that opened in the fall of 1995. The WHL Winter Hawks play in Memorial Coliseum, which opened in 1961 and served as the original home of the Trail Blazers. Memorial Coliseum is attached to 40,000-square foot Exhibit Hall and seven meeting rooms. The Commons, Portland’s largest outdoor public plaza, connects the Rose Garden and the Memorial Coliseum and can accommodate up to 5,000 people for outdoor events. Ovations Food Services is the official food and beverage concessionaire for the Rose Quarter.

Rose Quarter Ranked #1 in Number of Shows, #3 in Attendance and #9 in Total Gross

In the December 2005 issue of Venues Today, the Rose Quarter not only was ranked ninth in the world for venues with a capacity of 15,001-30,000 for the year, it also won the 2005 Hall of Headlines Marketing title. The Rose Quarter has had more events (not including Trail Blazers games, Winter Hawks games, and other select events) than any other venue in its category with 152 and boasts the third largest attendance with 709,337.

Global Spectrum

Global Spectrum (global-spectrum.com) is the fastest growing firm in the public assembly facility management field with more than 70 facilities throughout the United States and Canada. The Philadelphia-based company is part of one of the world's largest sports and entertainment companies, Comcast-Spectacor, which also owns the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association, the Philadelphia Phantoms of the American Hockey League, Flyers Skate Zone, a series of community ice skating rinks, Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia, a regional sports programming network, Ovations Food Services, a food and beverage services provider, New Era Tickets, a full-service ticketing and marketing product for public assembly facilities, and Front Row Marketing Services, a commercial rights sales company and 3601 Creative Group, a full-service in-house advertising agency. In a partnership with Disson Skating, Comcast-Spectacor annually produces 10 nationally televised figure skating spectaculars on NBC.

University of Oregon Athletics

Rose Garden to Host 2009 NCAA? Men's Basketball First and Second Rounds