Arkansas, SEC Officials Make Most of Difficult Situation

ATLANTA - There was no perfect solution.

Hours of late-night/early morning deliberating did nothing to change that fact.

Officials with the Southeastern Conference and its member schools looked to make the best of a bad situation in the aftermath of a tornado that hit the Georgia Dome Friday and forced the league's postseason tournament to relocate. Damage to the venue and neighboring structures in downtown Atlanta made the move a necessity.

Eventually, Georgia Tech's 9,100-seat Alexander Memorial Coliseum was chosen as the site for tournament completion. That move left a nearly 20,000-seat deficit from what the Georgia Dome offered and meant many fans were unable to watch teams they'd traveled to see.

It also meant Georgia was forced to play two games in a 12-hour span.

Not even close to ideal.

"There weren't many options," Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long said. "And there were no good options. So this is the best option that was available to us."

Because of the limited seating, schools were allotted 400 tickets. Fewer than 2,000 fans were on hand for Arkansas' thrilling 92-91 victory against No. 4 Tennessee. Equally scant crowds witnessed Georgia's victories against Kentucky and Mississippi State.

Arkansas officials distributed their tickets to family and friends of players, band members and cheerleaders; members of the Arkansas traveling party and their relatives, plus high-level boosters that were reachable. Long said he wasn't even sure if all 400 tickets the school had were used.

What few fans were on hand were treated to a surreal situation. The atmosphere had the feel of a high school tournament.

Adding to the oddity, banners representing member schools are draped over the side of the wall ringing the court, but it was clear they did not belong inside the gym of an Atlantic Coast Conference institution. A handful of SEC banners, some with handwritten messages on them, were located throughout the facility, hanging wherever and however they could be attached.

Fans unable to get tickets packed into sports bars and hotel lobbies in the downtown area. They were forced to make the most of a difficult situation and tournament officials said they could sympathize.

Additional tickets will be made available to Georgia and Arkansas to
distribute for Sunday's championship game. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.

"I understand the frustration," SEC associate commissioner Charles Bloom told the Associated Press. "But we were forced into this by a situation that doesn't come around very often."

Play was suspended for nearly an hour with Friday's Mississippi State-Alabama game in overtime. The Kentucky-Georgia game scheduled to tip at 9:45 p.m. was postponed until Saturday.

Winds clocked at up to 60 miles per hour rocked the 70,000-seat arena, causing the massive scoreboard, video screens and lighting beams to sway. It was a scary scene for the more than 20,000 fans in attendance, some who had to avoid debris falling from the ceiling.

Storm damage was evident throughout downtown Atlanta. Windows in CNN Center, headquarters of the cable news network and part of the same complex, were blown out.

Arkansas fan Jon Abney had the windows of his hotel room blown out. He had traveled from approximately 600 miles from Norfolk, Va., for the tournament and decided to head back after discovering his tickets would not be honored.

"We've got plenty to do at home," he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.