If you don't have tickets by now or aren't good friends with someone who went to UMBC, plan on watching the NCAA tournament games from Baltimore Arena at home or a sports bar.
The East Regional first- and second-round games at the Arena on March 16 and 18 have been sold out since May. Tickets had to be purchased for all three sessions, two on the 16th and one on the 18th, and the price, whether it's in the 10th row at center court or the last in section 322, was $96.
The listed capacity of the Arena for basketball is 12,959, but 250 of those seats were taken off the top for media use. Each of the eight teams will receive 350 tickets, usually in prime locations, for the session in which they play. The NCAA took 900 seats.
The Arena received 3,400 seats, some of which it made available to season-ticket holders for the pro teams that play at arenas run by Centre Management. UMBC sold approximately 4,000 tickets to alumni, students and members of the Retriever Club.
Membership in the Retriever Club, which costs $25, didn't skyrocket in anticipation of a chance to get tickets. Its rolls expanded by 50 to 60 members in 1994, to 1,100.
The remaining 3,000 tickets were made available to the public through a drawing, and UMBC received more than 10,000 applications. The winners in that lottery qualified to buy two tickets.
NCAA SCHEDULE
FIRST and SECOND ROUNDS
East
Knickerbocker Arena, Albany, N.Y., March 17 and 19; Baltimore Arena, March 16 and 18.
Southeast
Leon County Civic Center, Tallahassee, Fla., March 17 and 19; The Pyramid, Memphis, Tenn., March 16 and 18.
Midwest
Erwin Special Events Center, Austin, Texas, March 17 and 19; Dayton (Ohio) Arena, March 16 and 18.
West
Boise (Idaho) State Pavilion, March 17 and 19; Huntsman Center, Salt Lake City, March 16 and 18.
REGIONALS
East
Meadowlands Arena, East Rutherford, N.J., March 24 and 26.
Southeast
Jefferson Civic Center, Birmingham, Ala., March 23 and 25.
Midwest
Kemper Arena, Kansas City, Mo., March 24 and 26.
West
Oakland (Calif.) Alameda County Coliseum, March 23 and 25.
FINAL FOUR
Kingdome, Seattle, April 1 and 3.