Tuesday, April 27, 1999

Fresno St. has
edge in bid for
WAC tourney

It is offering a bigger
guarantee than Hawaii to host
the conference basketball
tournament

By Paul Arnett
Star-Bulletin

Fresno State is the front-runner of the six Western Athletic Conference schools bidding for next year's basketball postseason tournament, thanks to a guarantee of $600,000.

League commissioner Karl Benson confirmed that figure last night, but said he thought Hawaii's overall bid, which included a guarantee of $350,000, still makes it a strong contender.

"At this point, Hawaii would probably be right behind Fresno State," Benson said. "But there are other considerations, such as destination point, and hotel and airplane costs. From that standpoint, Hawaii has an excellent package."

Bowl Games of Hawaii executive director Lenny Klompus is expected to make a presentation to the WAC athletic directors this weekend in San Diego. He said last night from Dallas that he hoped everyone read his and UH's proposal from beginning to end.

"If they're only going to read the first line, then we may be in trouble," Klompus said. The first line in everyone's proposal is what the guarantee will be. "But I've always said you should read more than just the first line of the book. You have to read it to the end to see how it turns out.

"Fresno is only guaranteeing $600,000. Everyone still has to pay their air fare and their hotel bills once they get there. We're taking care of all of that. If you include everything we're offering, our bid is closer to $1 million."

Klompus said he would be glad to make the presentation, but he also said it was up to Hugh Yoshida to lobby his fellow athletic directors.

"You know Hugh is going to vote for our proposal and the athletic director at Fresno is going to support his," Klompus said. "That means we have to convince at least three that our bid is better."

Should there be a tie, Benson would make the decision. He doesn't believe that will be reached at this weekend's meetings in San Diego.

"No, I think the athletic directors want to take the proposals back to their presidents and then make a decision," Benson said.

Klompus is still hopeful Hawaii will win out in the end.

"We have a very competitive package, including a television proposal should Fox not want to televise it," Klompus said.