Tourney draws more fans for all EM classes

Those who monitored the turnstiles at this year’s Eastern Maine high school basketball tournament most closely had to be happy whether the venue was the Bangor Auditorium or the Augusta Civic Center.

Fans turned out in greater numbers this year for both the Class A tournament held for the first time in Augusta and for the B, C and D event that remained in Bangor.

The Eastern B, C and D tournament drew 39,945 fans to the Bangor Auditorium, compared with 37,266 fans who attended the B, C and D event in 2005.

Eastern A attendance jumped by nearly a third from a year ago, with 16,202 turning out last week at the Augusta Civic Center.

The 2005 Eastern A tournament, the last one held at the Bangor Auditorium, drew 12,153 fans, one year after 13,010 fans turned out for the 2004 large-school regional.

Tournament officials were pleased with the attendance up-tick at both venues, but Maine Principals’ Association executive director Dick Durost said before the tournament began that it would take a few years before a more valid comparison could be made, given that the “A” tourney was in a new location this year as well as moved up to the same February vacation week as the B, C and D regionals for the first time.

The move of the Eastern A regional did wonders for overall tourney attendance at the Augusta Civic Center, according to Mike Burnham, principal at Monmouth Academy and tournament director for the Augusta venue. Total attendance for the Eastern A and Western C and D tournaments held in Augusta was 33,337, up more than 10,000 from last year’s 23,094 for the Western B, C and D regionals.

This year’s Eastern A tourney drew more than double the attendance that Western B brought to Augusta a year ago, when 7,987 paid to watch that regional.

Burnham said this year’s Western C regional also experienced an attendance increase from a year ago.

The largest single-session turnout for this year’s Eastern B, C and D tournament didn’t come on Championship Saturday, but on the previous Monday for a Class D boys doubleheader featuring Lee Academy against Katahdin of Stacyville and Deer Isle-Stonington against Jonesport-Beals.

That session drew 3,130 fans, topping the second-best crowd of 2,793 for the Class B championship games held Saturday afternoon. Six other sessions also topped 2,000 fans, including the D boys semifinals.

Overall Eastern D attendance this year totaled 14,184, followed by Class B (13,705) and Class C (12,057).