Transcript From The BasketBowl Press Conference
5/29/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
May 29, 2003
DETROIT, Mich. -
Michigan State Athletics Director - Ron Mason
"Thanks, it's really a pleasure for me to be here today and to welcome all of you. As you may well know, I consider this somewhat of a sequel to the Cold War that I was very fortunate to be a part of as a coach and now, of course, I'll enjoy the same idea here as the athletics director."
"The credit goes to my staff, Greg Ianni and Mark Hollis, putting this together. There will be a lot of work to be done by all of our people between now and the event and after the event is over. I think what's most important is that Mitch Barnhart and Tubby Smith from Kentucky agreed to join us in this event and we thank them very much for that."
"It will be a special game and a special time. I think it is going to be more than just a game - I think the atmosphere will be more like an NCAA Championship event. I think that right now Ford Field is in the process of seeing if they can get the Final Four and I think that this will be a great prelude to that event if they can manage to bring it to Detroit."
"As well, I think that by bringing the game to Detroit it gives us the opportunity to show our basketball program to more people in person. I think, today, it's important that we take care of our fans and 57% of the tickets are $14 and under, which will allow families to come, and certainly that is important to us."
"This is what Michigan State is all about. We're looking forward to it. It will certainly be a special event and I am looking forward to the approach of the event and the game itself. A lot of people deserve a lot of credit, but certainly Michigan State is stepping forward and doing something that hasn't been done before and we like that."
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for the Lions/Ford Field - Tom Lewand
"As many of you know, the connection between the Michigan State Spartans and the Detroit Lions is growing ever closer in these last few months. We hired Coach Izzo's best friend from boyhood in the U.P., Steve Mariucci, to be our head coach. We drafted Charles Rogers with the second overall pick in the draft. We have, as our offensive coordinator, a former Spartan All-American great Sherman Lewis. We have our head trainer, our chief financial officer and other coaches with degrees from Michigan State and Spartan connections."
"I am absolutely looking forward to this event. It's going to be fantastic to have the Spartans and the Wildcats here and it's going to be fantastic to bring to fruition another great event at Ford Field. This is exactly the type of event we wanted to do in Ford Field. It's different, it's unique, it's entertainment. As mentioned early on, this is something different than a basketball game. It's about something different than a normal football game or any normal sporting event. This is about sports and entertainment coming together on a grand scale in downtown Detroit."
"It's the kind of vision that the Ford family had when they launched the Ford Field project seven years ago. It's the kind of commitment made by the city of Detroit and by Wayne Country. It's the kind of spin-off development and excitement that we wanted to bring to the city and to Wayne County."
"Ron mentioned that this is something that is unique. It brings Spartan basketball to a different crowd and to people who might not be able to see it at the Breslin Center. Likewise, we want to bring different people to downtown Detroit - folks who don't make it down as often as they should. We're going to give them a great stage in which to do that. It's a tremendous atmosphere that will be here on December 13 and we couldn't be more happy to be the host for this event."
"I want to thank Michigan State for its creativity and its commitment and I want to thank the University of Kentucky for agreeing to come and be a part of this. We couldn't be more happy and we look forward to a great day on December 13."
MSU head coach Tom Izzo:
"Wow! It doesn't get much better than this. There are so many people to thank. I want to thank Ron Mason, Mark Hollis, Greg Ianni and everyone in our athletic department.
"Going out on a limb is sometimes scary to do. I was a participant as a fan in the hockey record that we set and we have a good relationship with the people at Ford Field. I had a chance to go the first game here last year and go on a tour and I was very impressed. With Steve (Mariucci) here, lets hope our win isn't the first in this place since we don't play until December (Laughs). I'll get him on that off the air a little bit.
"I think it's going to be an incredible event. I think it's going to be exciting. I'm really thrilled that we have an opportunity to do something that puts a mark on the program. I tell our players, winning games is great, but you always want to do something like winning a championship or something that puts your foot in the sand, something that no one else has done. This is a chance for them to make a mark.
"Detroit is very important to us not from only a recruiting standpoint but because of the number of alumni we have down here. As for the Lions, I was a Packer fan all my life until a couple of months ago. I always enjoyed the Lions, but now I am true blue (pause) - wait, that's a little scary. True Hawaiian blue for the Lions anyway.
"It's going to be great to come down here and play against such a great program as Kentucky. Tubby Smith is as classy of a guy as you can get in our profession. I think the opportunity to have all their fans here will be exciting. We had a chance to play them in the Elite Eight in 1999 and they brought 30,000 fans to St. Louis. That's great, I hope we sell out, but for once I agree with Mariucci - let's try to pack this place with MSU fans. I hope our people are as excited about this as we are. I want to thank everyone who has been a part of this once again. Hopefully we'll be playing good at the time because I think it will be as an exciting of an event that Ford Field has had. For the Detroit Lions, Ford Field, Michigan State and Kentucky, I'm proud to be a part of it."
Q: Have you ever wanted a basketball game in a different venue since the "Cold War" took place?
A: "Well, in all honesty, I haven't really thought about it. People come up to me and say, 'Why don't you play a basketball game in Spartan Stadium?' Everyone knows I'm a football fan. I said it would be great to play a basketball game like the hockey game in Spartan Stadium. But it was basically impossible with the weather and time of year. When this opportunity came up, I right away said yes. Yeah, there were some questions. You lose your home court advantage a little bit. But I just thought it was way worth the risk and everyone else more than agreed. This was a no-brainer for me, especially in this venue. This is as nice as it gets."
Q: How did Kentucky get involved?
A: "A lot of factors: it was our home game on the schedule, it was the right time, it was our winter break and it worked out with the Lions' schedule. Everything just worked out. To be honest with you, I think everybody knows that Kentucky's fans travel as well as any program in America. Plus, Kentucky is probably the most storied program in the country."
Ron Mason:
Q: What will be the economic benefit for Michigan State?
A: "It definitely was a consideration in playing here. It will be an economic benefit for us, but of course, we're sure on the number at this point. It should be a pretty good payday for us, more than what we would get at home. Time will tell exactly what it's going to be. Our home payday is around $200,000, and I think we should at least double that, hopefully more. Our season ticket holders will be protected and will have first option on seats. The donor level will determine where they are."
Q: Will this be an annual event?
A: "People always ask if I would do another Cold War, and I said as long as I'm the Athletic Director, we won't do one again because of the weather and everything else that goes into it. I think with events like this the timing is critical and I don't think you look to do something like this every year."
