The NCAA Tournament is what makes March mad, with its history of upsets and moments captured and shared throughout the country with both men’s and women’s play turning weekends into long weekends that turn busy offices into quiet, lonely spots with everybody instead watching on their phone or with friends.
The time frame from Selection Sunday to First Four games starting in the middle of the week makes for a wild few days before the action even starts on the court for the cities that will be hosting games throughout the men’s and women’s tournaments. While the men’s early rounds are at predetermined hosts, the women’s early round locations are generally known but not specifically awarded until Sunday night’s bracket reveal.
For the 14 destinations that will host men’s tournament action through early April and the 19 destinations that will host women’s play, having visiting fans will be a chance to drive local business while getting brand recognition from out-of-town views. Two destinations got a double bonus of hosting action in both tournaments — Spokane, Washington, will host men’s and women’s early round play this weekend while Los Angeles is hosting two women’s quadrants this weekend before the men’s West regional the following weekend.
Powerhouse Potential in Albany
Participating Teams: Friday’s games are No. 1 South Carolina against No. 4 Indiana and No. 2 Notre Dame against No. 3 Oregon State. Saturday’s games are No. 1 Iowa against No. 5 Colorado and No. 2 UCLA against No. 3 LSU.
Host History: Albany hosted the 2019 Women’s Regional and also was the site for first and second round action of the men’s bracket in 2023.
Not only will the city host Iowa and Caitlin Clark, but it also features undefeated South Carolina and its large traveling fan base, Notre Dame and defending champion LSU.
“I don’t think we could have penciled it in any better,” admitted Jay Cloutier, director of sales at Albany County Convention & Visitors Bureau. “We were projected by several bracketologists to get Iowa and once ESPN broadcast that we were, I was texting with Discover Albany President Jill Delaney and Director of Marketing Katy Cotter, as well as the chairman of our local organizing committee and we were excited.”
Any worries about ticket sales or hotel occupancy went out the door when Albany saw Iowa and South Carolina on its side of the bracket.
“Once you get Caitlin Clark, you know that your gate is pretty much a lock,” Cloutier said. “You know the ticket sales are going to follow that. We hosted a women’s regional in 2019 and South Carolina was one of those four teams here and we knew they traveled extraordinarily well. We were confident one way or another we were going to get a team that was going to travel well, draw eyeballs and sell tickets.”
Add in Notre Dame, which travels well in any sport, and defending champion LSU and it’s icing on Albany’s cake. But will there be enough hotel rooms?
“I think there will be,” Cloutier said. “We are in a market that has over 7,000 guest rooms. And it’ll be Easter weekend, that’s generally a quiet time for our destination, which opens up opportunity for people to come in and find an affordable lodging option.”
Cloutier says Cotter was monitoring projected brackets for a while, but he had confidence the fan support would show up regardless of the teams.
“For a year now, we’ve been essentially saying that eight of the 16 best women’s college basketball teams in the country will be coming to Albany to showcase their talents in front of what I would consider a very smart basketball crowd,” Cloutier said. “The exact number of locals who will attend is hard to pinpoint, but when we put in our bid, I think the NCAA recognized the rich history of basketball at our destination.”
As for hosting eight teams instead of the traditional four, Albany will be ready to entertain the fans for all four days.
“As far as planning, we just doubled up what we would have normally done,” Cloutier said. “So instead of one day of Fan Fest before the first two games, we’re doing two days of Fan Fest.”
Regional Ties in Portland
Participating Teams: Friday’s games feature No. 2 Stanford against No. 3 North Carolina State, then No. 4 Gonzaga against No. 1 Texas. Saturday’s games include No. 1 USC against No. 5 Baylor, then No. 3 UConn against No. 7 Duke.
Host History: Portland hosted a 2019 NCAA Women’s Regional. The city has also hosted the men’s first and second rounds six times, the last being in 2022. It is scheduled to host the 2030 Women’s Final Four.
This year is the sixth NCAA Tournament event Portland has welcomed since 2009. But this is the first time the city will host the new format of the women’s tournament with six games in total spread out over four days.
“It gets a little more spread out, which I think is good for the energy and bandwidth of the staff and all that kind of stuff. ,” said Matt Reed, chief operating officer of Sport Oregon. “But from a tourism standpoint, we’re thrilled with the NCAA’s decision to make it eight teams.”
Portland may not have won the Caitlin Clark sweepstakes, but Reed points out there are plenty of storylines that will help generate excitement and fill the seats.
“Cameron Brink from Stanford was born and raised in Portland, so that’s a big tie-in for us,” Reed said. “… JuJu Watkins from USC is one of the top players in the nation and it was fun to watch the revitalization of that program this season. And then there’s Gonzaga — their fans show up in Portland. We saw it two years ago with the men’s tournament.”
Reed says Portland is not only a huge basketball area but is a hotbed of support for women’s sports in general.
“There’s no doubt that the crowds are going to be huge,” Reed said. “Portland is a basketball town through and through. And we’ve proven throughout the years, even with our Portland Thorns NWSL soccer team, we have capabilities and interest in women’s athletics that’s pretty unparalleled. I think you’re seeing it across the country now and we were on that train a while ago.”
Portland will host its first Women’s Final Four in 2030, 65 years after it hosted the Men’s Final Four in 1965.
“We’ve been really fortunate in that we’ve hosted the men’s first and second rounds a number of times here and those are eight teams, so as far as logistics and practice schedules and all those types of things, it’s pretty similar,” Reed said. “As a future Final Four host in 2030, we’re using this as big momentum for that.”
Big Names Destined for Dallas
Participating Teams: The South Region second weekend features No. 1 Houston, No. 2 Marquette, No. 4 Duke and No. 11 North Carolina State.
Host History: This will be the 15th time Dallas hosts NCAA men’s play; the last time Dallas hosted a men’s regional was in 1994. It did host the Women’s Final Four last season as well as the 1986 Men’s Final Four.
March Madness is called that because of the amazing upsets and buzzer-beaters that become iconic NCAA Tournament moments. But should the South region go according to seed, next weekend’s regional finals in Dallas will be a wild, wild scene.
The No. 1 seed? Oh, that’s Houston, a traditional program in the midst of a years-long resurgence, giant alumni base and easy flight over to the Metroplex area. The No. 2 seed? Marquette and its Midwestern following. The No. 4 seed? Duke, one of the biggest names in college sports. Even Thursday’s loss by No. 3 seed Kentucky may not depress room occupancy that much given the eventual final South Regional semifinal spot is occupied by No. 11 North Carolina State, another ACC blueblood.
“We were watching those brackets come out and we’re like, Oh, my gosh, we’ve got a hot region here and kind of regardless of which direction it would go, we’re going to have some great matchups and some good teams and fan bases that travel and anticipate being sold out,” said Monica Paul, executive director of the Dallas Sports Commission.
As is one of the storylines throughout this story, the NCAA Tournament is far from the only thing that these destinations need to organize and coordinate. In Dallas’ case, the past month has included multiple large youth soccer tournaments, Athletes Unlimited basketball and the Concacaf Nations League finals.
“March is a key month for us,” Paul said.
Between the number of times Dallas has hosted the NCAA Tournament, both men’s and women’s, in addition to Big 12 Conference events and other one-off college basketball spotlight events, the sports community has become well-versed in being able to prepare for all the logistical work needed without even knowing what specific teams will be arriving next week.
“Sunday, we may get travel plans for the teams when they’re coming in so that we can recruit people to join us for the team welcomes at the hotels, prepare practice venues and be able to then schedule those,” Paul said. “We’re making sure that people are aware of when they need to be looking in the travel portal to then figure out when officials are coming in so we can schedule pickups and communicating with team hosts so that they can be ready to greet the teams as well at the airport.”
What could be a busy weekend ahead for the regionals for Dallas would be even busier, in a way, by having a boring opening weekend in terms of upsets.
“We’re really looking forward to how to engage our hotel community, our restaurants and attractions and things to do and get the word out for those fans coming in to be able to experience our city a little bit while they’re not at the American Airlines Center watching basketball,” Paul said.
Big Blue Descended on Pittsburgh
Participating Teams: 6-Texas Tech vs 11-NC State; 3-Kentucky vs 14-Oakland; 6-South Carolina vs 11-Oregon; 3-Creighton vs 14-Akron
Host History: Pittsburgh hosted men’s first and second round action in 1997 and 2002 at Civic Arena. This year will mark the fifth time in the plast 12 years that PPG Paints Arena will see opening rounds play.
Pittsburgh has become one of the NCAA’s favorite host sites the past 12 years, earning five bids since 2012.
“In 2022 it drove about $10.4 million in direct visitor spend throughout Allegheny County and there were more than 3,000 hotel room nights booked,” said Brady Inners, director of sports event development for SportsPittsburgh. “We know that this event is going to provide a serious uptick in hotel occupancy rate.”
While Akron and Oakland are smaller schools with excited fan bases that can drive to Pittsburgh and N.C. State, Oregon and South Carolina also travel well, there was a clear jewel in this batch of teams: Kentucky, whose fans traveled to Pittsburgh in droves before a shocking first-round upset at the hands of Oakland.
“We know that Kentucky is one of the most iconic brands in college sports and specifically college basketball,” Inners said. “… But we’re really looking forward to eight different universities and communities from around the country being able to be exposed to Pittsburgh here this week.”
It was a big college basketball week in the city in more ways than one. Duquesne University — the host university for the Pittsburgh bid — won the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament title and is in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 47 years, scoring a first-round win over BYU.
“We’re extremely excited that Duquesne is front and center,” Inners said. “I’m not worried that some of their fans who would have attended the games here will be making the trip to Omaha. It’s something that’s well-deserved for Duquesne and we’re excited for them.”
Duquesne’s run to the A-10 conference title has created more buzz for college basketball in the area, which has one of the most passionate sports followings of any city.
“Our local regional fan base here for college hoops is so big and wide,” Inners said. “Not only do we have Pitt and Duquesne, but also Robert Morris. We think it will be a really good showing for crowds this Thursday and Saturday at PPG Paints Arena.”
Inners believes Pittsburgh has a combination of strong fan bases coming into the city. But in the Steel City, sports are king regardless of the name on the jersey.
“The great thing about Pittsburgh is this city loves sports no matter what it is,” Inners said. “This city really rallies behind sports. It’s an event city and this is a must-see event.”
Sold Out in Spokane
Participating Teams: 5-San Diego State vs 12-UAB; 4-Auburn vs 13-Yale; 5-Saint Mary’s vs 12-Grand Canyon; 4-Alabama vs 13-Charleston
Host History: Spokane has hosted the men’s first and second rounds five previous times, most recently in 2016.
The Spokane section of the bracket could have been renamed the Alabama Invitational with the Crimson Tide, plus Auburn and UAB, headed to the Pacific Northwest. While UAB fell short against San Diego State and Auburn was upset by Yale in the first round, Alabama has used its opening weekend victories in Spokane as a launching pad to the West Regional in Los Angeles, where it beat top-seeded North Carolina on Thursday night.
“It’s certainly not a bad thing, but that is kind of weird,” said Cherie Gwinn, senior director of events at Spokane Sports. “I’ve never seen that before. I have a good colleague down in Huntsville and he said, ‘Wow, who knew you were going to get the whole state of Alabama in Washington?’ But three teams from one state is incredible and of course we’re going to roll out the red carpet for all of them.”
The buildup to hosting an NCAA Tournament event takes months of planning and once the selection show starts, it becomes a whirlwind for any host.
“The first 24 hours is the most impactful for all the frontline hospitality employees, in particular all of your hotels,” Gwinn said. “We were watching the selection show at a watch party and I invited all of our hotel partners to be a part of it. And you can just see it, one by one, their phones are ringing, getting ready to get the room blocks figured out. That first 24 hours of response time you just can’t be caught on your heels.”
One thing Sports Spokane doesn’t have to worry about is selling tickets. The games sold out within 48 hours of tickets going on sale months ago.
“We’ve been one of the only cities to be sold out from the get-go,” Gwinn said. “It’s competitive — almost like a lottery around here when the NCAA comes to town. I think we’re fortunate in that aspect because our whole region really supports the efforts of basketball and really dives into the March Madness craziness.”
The men’s basketball games were not the only source of madness in Spokane for the weekend. The Gonzaga women’s team earned a No. 4 seed in its region and the right to host the first two rounds. The city is also organizing a USA Volleyball Qualifier this weekend.
“This is the first time that Spokane has ever hosted men’s first and second round and women’s first and second round at the same time,” Gwinn said. “We’ve never seen such an impact here in Spokane. A USA Volleyball Qualifier usually sells out our hotels on its own.”
Slammed in Salt Lake City
Participating Teams: 15-Long Beach State vs. 2-Arizona; 7-Dayton vs. 10-Nevada; 12-McNeese State vs. 5-Gonzaga; 13-Samford vs. 4-Kansas
Host History: This year was the 21st time Salt Lake hosted NCAA men’s play, including the famous 1979 Final Four with Magic Johnson’s Michigan State beating Larry Bird’s Indiana State in the title game. It last hosted NCAA Men’s Tournament play in 2019.
“We were almost sold out from tickets already,” said Caryn Bradshaw, managing director of Sports Salt Lake. And that’s before Selection Sunday revealed three massive fan bases were coming to town in Arizona, Gonzaga and Kansas, plus a regional team in Nevada.
Once the bracket was revealed, Bradshaw and her staff went into overdrive assigning teams to hotel blocks, getting information on when teams would be arriving, making sure correct signage is at each hotel and setting up practice sessions at the University of Utah plus the Delta Center. Sports Salt Lake also has one staffer assigned to each team as a liaison to the program’s boosters and alumni clubs that may be wanting to set up hospitality either before or after games.
And before the local organizers can think about fan demand for hotel rooms, it also has to make sure it has enough inventory for teams and their traveling parties.
“I had to help one of the teams find their band and cheerleaders rooms,” Bradshaw said. “Luckily I’ve been dealing with all the hotel partners, so I know who still has availability and was putting everybody to where they need to go to. But it is kind of crazy.”
On a weekend where eight teams are coming to town, Salt Lake City was also hosting the final Pac-12 Gymnastics Championships in conference history and a radiology conference at the Salt Palace, making room availability near the Delta Center scarce and sending some fans out to either Ogden to the north or Provo to the south.
“It’s going to get expensive this weekend,” Bradshaw said. “Literally, downtown is full. If anybody’s booking to stay the weekend now, they’re going to be at least 20 minutes away from downtown before they’ll be able to get some rooms, especially if they want cheaper rooms.”
What it’ll end up for Salt Lake is an estimated economic impact of up to $5 million for the NCAA events alone between increased room rates, total occupancy and the potential for anything that could happen like when, in 2017, Northwestern won its first NCAA Tournament game ever.
“Everybody went crazy and literally, the University of Utah was like, ‘call your bars because they were about to get hit,’” Bradshaw remembers. “I sent out a big email and was like, ‘hey, just be prepared.’ And Northwestern fans were out on the town. Having those kinds of stories where you never really know how it’s all going to work out, that’s when some of those really cool moments happen.”
Hooking ‘Em In Austin, Texas
Participating Teams: 16-Drexel vs. 1-Texas; 8-Alabama vs. 9-Florida State
Host History: This was be the 21st time that Austin hosts NCAA Women’s Tournament action and the third season in a row. It hosted the NCAA Women’s Final Four in 1985 and 1987.
This time in Austin has traditionally been a strong sports weekend already. From 2016 through last year, this was the time of year the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play would be held in town — in addition to a NASCAR Cup Series weekend. Last year, the corresponding weekend even outperformed the second weekend of the South by Southwest festival in terms of hotel occupancy.
While the PGA Tour is not in town this March, sports fans were instead able to head over the Moody Center and see a team that had won 12 of its last 13 games along with a Big 12 Tournament championship title heading into the NCAA Tournament.
“UT basketball has always been, especially from the women’s side and with Vic Schaefer at the helm, great over the last few years,” Austin Sports Commission Director Drew Hays said. “Getting the one seed is fantastic and it means we get to host three other teams from outside of our market and we’re excited to welcome fans from all over for those going to come and enjoy the games.”
Having in particular two other programs that are known for strong traveling fan contingents in Florida State and Alabama (a school UT fans will see more of starting next year when it moves to the SEC) is also a boost for the burgeoning women’s game.
“I think traveling for women’s sports is going to be on the rise here now and in the near future,” Hays said. “There’s no shortage of good basketball that’s going to take place. And I hope to see a good contingent of fans traveling in for it.”
There also existed the potential for additional fan activities with NCAA first-round games on Friday before the NASCAR race on Sunday, akin to the golf-auto racing that existed in Austin the past few years.
“The South is great for NASCAR and with Florida State and Alabama, maybe there’s some bands of both that are just going to come in and make a full-on weekend out of it,” Hays said.
Nothing for Granted in Columbia, South Carolina
Participating Teams: 16-Presbyterian or 16-Sacred Heart vs. 1-South Carolina; 8-North Carolina vs. 9-Michigan State.
Host History: Colonial Life Arena has been home for first- and second-round games every year since 2015.
You’d think that given the past decade of success for South Carolina women’s basketball, the planning to host next year’s early round action starts shortly after the NCAA Tournament is over — but it’s not exactly like that.
“I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily old hat, that implies that there’s not any work to be done,” said Scott Powers, executive director for Experience Columbia SC Sports. “Obviously there’s the expectation with this program under coach (Dawn) Staley of where it’s going to be. We shouldn’t always assume that’s the way everything’s going to be, but I think everybody takes it for granted a little bit that we’re going to host come this time every year. (But) we don’t want to just host, we want it to be a special experience and the NCAA always wants that.”
One idea added by the hosts a few years ago was balloon arches in the host hotels “which sounds easy, but when you find out on Sunday who the teams are and what colors they have, and they’re arriving in town by (Monday), that’s a quick turnaround to get special colors for those type things ordered,” Powers said. “My phone was blowing up ‘till midnight last night, just making sure that everybody was on the same page.”
The regional assignments also work nicely for South Carolina with a potential second-round game against regional foe North Carolina, with the Gamecocks and Tar Heels having played each other in the recent season. South Carolina also hosted a First Four game between Presbyterian and Sacred Heart — “those 16 seeds are always fun to get in the hotels and see them react,” Powers said. “You can’t replace that experience for any of those young ladies that are going to be here.”
And while there may be a train of thought that hosting a women’s early round regional would not draw the same visitation levels as a men’s regional, since one of the teams is a local host, that may not be the exact case in South Carolina — and if there are fans who traveled to Omaha and saw a first-round loss to Oregon on Thursday, they could still potentially be back in Columbia this weekend for games.
“We do have a lot of the women’s fans that don’t live necessarily in the Midlands region,” Powers said. “They’re coming in from Charleston or Florence or Greenville. And for a couple of games, they may spend the night where they normally come in for a Sunday afternoon game and go back home. That has the opportunity to generate more hotel room nights than you would think.”
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