Reliant Stadium and the Final Four

Reliant Stadium might appear, for those inside, to be an oversized backdrop for the live audience watching the Final Four, but it will provide an intimate feel for those watching the games on television.  The games will take place in a similar fashion to the 2008 and 2010 regional finals, with the court atop a 30-inch riser above the stadium's concrete floor at midfield. Stadium capacity has been expanded to about 76,500 with the addition of temporary seats in each end zone and several rows of sloped risers that overlay the bottom rows of the stadium bowl.  (If you were wondering about safety issues in the wake of the Super Bowl seating snafu at Cowboys Stadium, a stadium spokeswoman said the Reliant seating plan has passed muster with the Houston fire marshal.)

For many fans, particularly those sitting in each corner at odd angles to the playing surface, the best view of the court might be the octagonal 16-foot by 24-foot monitors suspended 58 feet above the stadium floor. The monitors, which also are used during the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, are slightly above eye level with fans sitting in the club seats (level 300) and at a comfortable viewing angle for the approximately 25,000 seats in the upper deck.  Even the closest fans, though, will be at least 20 feet from courtside. Without tightly packed courtside seats, a lot of real estate is up for grabs in the 8-foot runoff area that surrounds the court, and some of it is going to CBS and its 22-camera contingent.

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