The Greater Chattanooga Sports and Events Committee sent a letter to the NCAA, saying organizers lost about $60,000 hosting games with North Carolina, Purdue, UCF and Charlotte. Chattanooga had guaranteed paying the NCAA $75,000 to host first- and second-round games hoping to host either Tennessee or Chattanooga.

"Those are the two teams everybody wanted," committee president Scott Smith said Friday. "Once that didn't happen, to have five teams from the state in the tournament and not get any definitely didn't help."

Smith said he sent his complaint by letter a week after the games March 22 and 24 to Jaclyn Silar, chairwoman of the NCAA women's basketball selection committee, and copied in others at the NCAA.

Sue Donohoe, the NCAA's vice president of Division I women's basketball, said the committee worked hard to put teams close with home teams placed at their own site. But Chattanooga didn't make the NCAA tournament. Donohoe said teams' fans did not travel throughout this year's tournament as in previous years, likely due to the economy.

The Division I women's basketball committee will have a conference call later this month to consider the financial reports from Chattanooga and a couple other sites that struggled.

"We'll do what we can to provide financial assistance to them. What that is, I don't know. It's a committee decision," Donohoe said. "It absolutely is on their radar for discussion ... You have to have a good balance and you have to be reasonable partners, and that's what we want to be."

Albuquerque was another women's site that lost money with no local teams sent to play at New Mexico.

Greg Remington, spokesman for the University of New Mexico's athletics department, said they are still waiting to see the final deficit from hosting games. Paperwork on the bills has been sent to the NCAA, and New Mexico likely will ask about some relief.

Remington said he didn't know if "complaint" would be the word school officials used.

"It did make it a bit of a challenge to sell tickets when our closest team was what, Kansas State?" Remington said.

Almost all bills are in Chattanooga, which lost $59,457 on games so poorly attended that the few fans who went to their seats in the upper deck were encouraged to move down at the tipoff of each of the three games. That still left sections of empty seats inside McKenzie Arena on the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga campus.

North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell even joked before the first game about having her players hit the streets promoting the tournament.

Smith called it the biggest loss ever for the nonprofit group, which started in 1992. The committee also helps host the NCAA's Football Subdivision Championship title game each December.

The committee hopes for a little money back from the NCAA even though Smith said he did not ask for help in his letter.

"Obviously, being a small nonprofit, this is a huge loss for us. I hope they do something for us. Regardless of what they do, it will affect our future bids for any NCAA women whether a lower guarantee or however we structure it. There's no doubt it'll affect the future regardless of what happens," Smith said.