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The Sports Corner

Column by Eddie Hughes

The opening events of the Save Mart Center sound great, except for one gaping hole.

It’s a figurative hole that will cast a shadow over what should be a euphoric grand opening for the new on-campus arena that seats up to 18,000.

The debut of the $100 million arena should be monumental. Since the privately-funded arena wouldn’t be near completion if it weren’t for supporters of the Fresno State men’s basketball program, it seems obvious that opening it with the biggest home game in school history is the thing to do.

But apparently, that’s not going to happen.

An Aug. 14 press conference in the arena announced the four opening events.

The flurry of first looks at the arena begins Oct. 27 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Sounds OK—even though there was already one ribbon-cutting ceremony when construction began.

The next event is an open house for public viewing of the arena Nov. 1. Good idea by whomever thought of it, but how about doing that after a big game against, oh, say, UCLA or Arizona or even Kansas.

The first basketball event is scheduled for Nov. 5 when both the men’s and women’s teams play intrasquad scrimmages in the Bulldog Basketball Extravaganza. The only thing this has in common with a real game is that both events will cost money.

The first concert comes two days later, on Nov. 7, when opera star Andrea Bocelli performs.

Athletic Director Scott Johnson said he wanted to get a team like UCLA, Kansas or North Carolina to come in for the first game, but none of the schools was interested.

After contacting about 100 schools, Johnson said less than six showed interest, though he couldn’t name names.

“ The basketball staff has contacted nearly a hundred schools and we probably have interest from less than half a dozen,” Johnson said. “They don’t want to come in and open this up.”

So as of now, the Bulldogs don’t play an actual regular season game in their new home until Dec. 5 in the McCaffrey Classic. That game would be against either Princeton, UC Irvine or a team yet to be announced. Not exactly a powerhouse opener.

Johnson said the Bulldogs are still trying to get a big-name team—or at least semi big-name—to oppose Fresno State in the opener. The idea is to have an exempt tournament—one that does not count against the NCAA regular season game limit—in the Save Mart Center that will entice well-known schools to travel to Fresno with the promise of playing more than just one game.

Under current NCAA rules a team can participate in no more than two exempt tournaments in a four-year period. Johnson said that ruling is currently in court and may be changed. Fresno State fans should hope so because opening the arena with an exempt tournament is a whole lot better than seeing an Ivy League or Big West team open it in December after the venue has already hosted an opera, a Fresno Falcons hockey game and maybe other events.

The men’s basketball team is the driving force behind the classy venue and it should open the correct way—with a big regular season game.

The 33-foot hole that was dug when construction started is now filled with seats, stairs and lighting.

The students and the community shouldn’t be left with another hole when the Save Mart Center opens.