For my money, this is the worst seat in the house for the Final Four.
Last row. Peak FOMO. pic.twitter.com/T8asQNSnzS
— Medium Happy (@jdubs88) April 1, 2017
Now, if you were a fan of any of the four teams (especially the three that weren’t North Carolina) you probably didn’t care. You were in the building, even if you were sitting on what was essentially the roof.
Here’s a similar spot for the North Carolina vs. Gonzaga final:
Highest seat in the stadium #NationalChampionship pic.twitter.com/X46s0UKn7J
— College Basketball (@br_CBB) April 4, 2017
I couldn’t find a seat in this specific section online for the final, but I did find one on sale on the opposite site of the court shortly before the semifinals. That one would’ve cost you hundreds of dollars on Seat Geek ...
... and that price surely went up for the championship.
Wait, that looks like a football stadium’s seating chart.
Hey, you’re right! The Final Four is being played in University of Phoenix stadium in Glendale, Ariz., and it’s typically a football stadium home to the Arizona Cardinals as well as the Fiesta Bowl. The Final Four has been played in football domes every year since 1996, and has only been played in non-football domes four times since 1990. That’s also one reason the Final Four hasn’t been really anywhere near the west coast since it was held in Seattle back in 1995. Seattle’s Kingdome was demolished in 2000, and with it went the only dome on the west coast. That means that there wasn’t a Men’s Final Four-worthy site west of Texas until U of P stadium was built in 2006.
Why would you have a dome on the west coast where the weather is literally perfect? It makes sense in Seattle because of rain, but besides that there’s little need for a roof. Also domes are more expensive than open air stadiums, so billionaires can save on cost when they’re fleecing communities for public funds.
A seat at the top of a Final Four venue didn’t even used to be this bad, because they didn’t used to use the whole stadium.
The NCAA used to just draw a big curtain at essentially midfield and put big temporary bleachers on one side of the court while using what would be essentially the end zone seats. It’s a look Syracuse gets for its home games in the football-first Carrier Dome.
But in 2009, the Final Fours went to this full dome usage by laying bleachers over the sideline seats to improve sight lines for people sitting down there as well as raising the court a few feet off the ground.
Welcome to the BIG stage... #FinalFour pic.twitter.com/Pui1kgJ3HJ
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) April 1, 2017
Thus, we have the Final Four dome setup that we see this week. If you’re in the dome tonight, I hope you have a good seat.