PCAA Picks Long Beach Over Forum

The Pacific Coast Athletic Assn.’s postseason basketball tournament will move from the Forum to the Long Beach Arena in 1989, conference officials said Monday.

PCAA Commissioner Lewis A. Cryer said that a major factor in the decision was the Forum’s Senate seat program, which reserves more than 2,000 prime seats for those who pay for a season-ticket package to all Forum events. “We were able to buy back some of those seats and re-sell them, but not enough of them,” Cryer said. “By going to Long Beach, we get all the seats, and we control all the seats.”

The conference also said that next season’s tournament--the last under the current agreement with the Forum--will be expanded to include all 10 PCAA teams, instead of the traditional, eight-team format.