New Jersey Is in Running for 1994 Final Four

The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority and Rutgers will submit an application to the NCAA to host the 1994 men’s basketball Final Four.

Authority President Robert Mulcahy said the sports authority and Rutgers got one of the 20 applications the NCAA sent out to host the Final Four and it must be returned by the Division I Men’s Basketball Committee by Nov. 18.

“I’m cautiously optimistic,” Mulcahy said. “They have changed the regulation on seating and I believe we’ve done well with the regionals and deserve consideration.”

The NCAA East Regional, the final step before the Final Four, has been held at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands Sports Complex for the past three years and will continue to be held there the next three years.

The NCAA recently voted that the host of the 1994 Final Four did not have to have an arena that seated 30,000 people, a requirement in effect for 1991-93. That cleared the way for the sports authority and Rutgers, the proposed host school for the tournament, to ask that the 20,039-seat Byrne Arena be considered in 1994.