The following was printed in the Sunday, January 22 Cincinnati Enquirer I assume no responsibility for any misinformation (and you wouldn't want to The paper's accuracy bears a strong resemblence to it's National namesake, particulary in the Sports section. :-) ) I also can't help but to add a few comments on certain points, in [] Finally, note that this event is held in such high esteem by the city and paper that they have a "contributor" write the article (as opposed to a staff writer) --- Begin quoted material --- Final Four tickets go for $69.50 by Tim Pennington Enquirer contributor Nearly 11 years after hatching a plan to bring the NCAA Division I hockey Final Four to Cincinnati, local organizers have begun selling tickets for the 1996 event. The first NCAA chanpionship held in Cincinnati is scheduled for March 28 and 30, 1996 at Riverfront Coliseum. All-session tickets - two semifinals and final - are $69.50. More than 48,000 attended in Milwaukee last year. Phil Buttafuoco, assistant director of NCAA championships, said he is confident the tournament also will sell out here. Miami Universty will be host school. [We rarely see more than 4 lines in the paper about Miami hockey, despite the school being only 30 miles (or so) from Cincinnati] "The city is so centrally located to other parts of the country that I'm sure there will be a big draw from those regions," he said. "Plus, Cincinnati is proving itself to be a hockey town with the Cyclones and Miami program." [The Cyclones (IHL) do draw well. However, games are billed more as a pro wrestling event than hockey] About 8,000 visitors will attend, making it the second-largest convention [Sounds like a pretty low number, I have no idea what this refers to] scheduled for the city next year, said DonSchumacher, executive director of the Greater Cincinnati Sports and Events Comission. Organizers expect an econimic impact of $5 million. "This is going to be a tremendous event for the city," Schumacher said. "We will get to show ourselves off to the rest of the nation, as well as generate some extra revenue for the city." [I hope they do better than they did a few years ago when the Flyers played the Flames in an NHL exhibition. The ice was terrible and the players had to show the maintenance crew how to remove water from the pipe holes in order to properly seat the goals for the start of the game] Schumacher and Steve Cady, assistant athletic director at Miami, first contact- ed the NCAA about hosting the tournament in 1984. Five years later, they made a presentation to the tournament selection committee in California. "Their presentation to us that year was terrific," Buttafuoco said. "Then they came back in 1991 and really turned our heads. We feel very comfortable bring- ing the tournament here." Ticket info Tickets ($69.50) are available at Riverfront Coliseum and Select-A-Seat (721-1000). [I believe that's the local 513 area code] To order by mail, send check, money order or charge card number to: NCAA Division I Hockey Championships Riverfront Coliseum 100 Broadway Cincinnati, OH 45202 For phone and mail orders, add a $2.50 service charge per order. Mail orders should include a self-addressed stamped envelope. --- End quoted material --- About ordering tickets, I know that you can wait an awful long time on the phone with Select-A-Seat. The phone for the Riverfront Coliseum is listed as 513-241-1818. It is probably just a business number and not for tickets, but it might be a place to double check this information before spending time with S-A-S. Also the $2.50 per order sounds low. It's usually that much per ticket, but who knows. Finally, I wouldn't assume that this is the final word on these tix. Hope this is useful for some people. Dave Naghski University of Cincinnati [log in to unmask]