Despite economic chill, hoops fanatics still spend

GREENSBORO -- ******

CORRECTION

A story Friday on Page 1B incorrectly said Greensboro was the birthplace of the ACC tournament. Although the ACC was founded in Greensboro, which considers itself the birthplace of the ACC, the tournament was played in Raleigh in its early years.

****** The economy is down and unemployment is up, but it hardly matters. On the first day of the ACC men's basketball tournament, there is always room for economic optimism.

The Greensboro Area Convention and Visitors Bureau expects the tournament, which started Thursday and continues through Sunday, to bring $18.8 million into the local economy. Businesses are renting hospitality suites adjacent to the coliseum, and the nearest barbecue joint, Stamey's, is selling sandwiches as quickly as the pork can be chopped. The tournament is back in its birthplace, and Greensboro officials and merchants say it couldn't have come at a better time.

Greensboro's Courtyard Marriott is sold out through Saturday night and is expected to bring in more than $70,000 this weekend. That's double its average, general manager Mike Reynolds said. The hotel, which isn't hosting any of the 12 teams, hasn't sold out since September.

"It's the first economic impact at all I've seen in two years," Reynolds said, laughing. "To have four days like this in a row is really something. And most of the fans here will stay the entire weekend, even if their team loses."

The first couple of games on Thursday featured thousands of empty seats. But the ACC splits the tickets evenly and sells them to the schools. So each of the arena's 23,500 seats, whether a person is in it or not, has been sold.

A suite tradition

The tournament is back in Greensboro this year for the first time since 2006. Whenever the ACC comes to town, R.H. Barringer, a Greensboro-based beer and wine distributor, rents a hospitality suite in the coliseum complex.

The company's business in 2009 may have been down 2.5 percent from the previous year, but the ACC tournament is an important tool for interacting with customers, and the hospitality suite stayed in the budget. "We feel it's vital to do it," General Manager Tim Bauguess said.

R.H. Barringer rented the suite for each day of the tournament, and Bauguess expects about 125 business associates to use it during the event. On Thursday afternoon, 15 or 20 people, mostly men, enjoyed meatballs and nachos and sipped Anheuser-Busch products.

Overall, the hospitality business this year is even with previous tournaments, said Scott Johnson, the coliseum's deputy director. The arena will host about 25 functions during the four-day tournament.

A company's cost depends on how many people it entertains, how long it rents the room and what types of food it orders. Menu options vary from hot dogs and hamburgers to steak and shrimp, Johnson said. A company could expect to spend $2,500 to $5,000 to host 50 people for one event.

Despite the stumbling economy, Johnson said, companies haven't skimped on their menus.

Always a big week

Business during tournament weeks is traditionally 25 percent better than an average week, said Chip Stamey, owner of Stamey's BBQ across the street from the arena. He doesn't expect this week to be any different. People who love attending the tournament every year will keep coming.

After Wake Forest bowed out of the tournament late Thursday afternoon, people lined up outside Stamey's in the rain. About 200 people stood under umbrellas in a line that snaked outside the front door, while a couple of dozen crowded beneath an overhang to eat their meals outside the drive-through window.

Buddies Shaw Hargett of Holly Springs and Rick Chapman of Raleigh waited their turn at the door. This is their sixth straight tournament. They sock away money throughout the year to make the trips, wherever the tournaments are held.

As far as ACC tournaments go, this is a relatively inexpensive one. The friends can drive, saving on airline tickets. But like most people, they are rethinking big expenditures because of the recession. If this year's tournament had been in Tampa, Fla., they would've thought doubly hard about making the trip.

In Greensboro, fortunately, the economic choices are much simpler. A Stamey's barbecue sandwich is $2.75.