Will fans without tickets see the Panthers in the Field House?

March Madness is driving Michelle Wydra downright insane.

Since Monday, the executive board… March Madness is driving Michelle Wydra downright insane.

Since Monday, the executive board director of the Pitt Program Council has been scrambling to arrange an event where students can gather to watch Pitt’s men’s basketball team compete in Friday’s NCAA Tournament game.

“It’s crazy,” she said.

Because of NCAA regulations, Pitt only received 450 tickets to the game, according to executive associate athletics director Marc Boehm. From there, he said, the department had to distribute six tickets to each player. Tickets also went to basketball and support staff, as well as season ticket holders. After all the distributing, students were allowed to enter a drawing to win one of the 40 remaining tickets. Boehm said such a figure was high compared to other schools.

E.J. Borghetti, assistant athletic director for media relations, agreed. He said 2000 national champion Michigan State had no tournament tickets available to students the year after its victory.

“It’s a horrible situation,” Borghetti said. “It’s very difficult to make anybody happy.”

To capture some of March Madness’ fabled excitement, Wydra and the Pitt Program Council are working to install a 15-foot-by-20-foot screen in the Fitzgerald Field House so that students can watch Friday’s and – if things go well – Saturday’s game together there.

“You only thought [the March 2 game] was the last game you saw in the Field House,” Wydra said.

The group hopes to hang the screen at center court, and to seat students in the Field House’s blue seats. Should attendance grow, there will also be a tarp so students can sit on the Field House floor. Admission would be free.

“It’s like a basketball game without the basketball team there,” Wydra said.

But before plans can be finalized, the Program Council needs to make sure its funding is final.

Wydra and Pitt Program Council adviser Tom Misuraca estimate the total cost for the two showings at between $10,000 and $11,000. Without having budgeted for NCAA festivities last summer – or a trip to Orlando for the Tangerine Bowl – the Program Council can only spare $4,000 at the most.

Student Government Board is looking into giving up to $2,000, according to President Jeff Alex. The money, he said, will come from modifications made to the board’s budget.

The Pitt Program Council approached the athletics department to solicit more funding, but was denied.

Boehm said he was “shocked” when Misuraca asked him about the funding. “We run athletic events,” he said. Boehm called the broadcast a “student event,” and said that as such, it falls under the discretion of the Pitt Program Council and indicated that the Program Council’s funds should be used to cover the costs.

“They’re the experts in this field,” Boehm said. “We aren’t.”

Wydra said that without help from outside sources, the event wouldn’t be possible.

“The Pitt Program Council cannot pay for this entire thing by itself,” she said. Her group will happily organize and work the event, she said, but “the only hangup, really, is putting money together for it.”

Despite not funding the event, Misuraca said athletics had been helpful in allowing the group access to the Field House. At press time, he said he was “95 percent sure” the group had found adequate funding for the event. He wouldn’t name the sources for his funding, he said, “in case it falls through.”

“I’m happy to see people working together to get things done,” he said.

Alex said the provost’s and chancellor’s offices had also been contacted with financial requests. He is disappointed that the athletics department is not helping to fund the event.

“This isn’t in our budget either,” he said. “But we’re trying to do the right thing for students.”