The NCAA basketball tournament's First Four in Dayton was a “home run,” according to Tom Archdeacon of the DAYTON DAILY NEWS. NCAA Tournament Chair Jeff Hathaway said, “We’ve been very excited by what’s transpired here the past few days.” He added, “From the festival that drew the big crowd downtown (15,000 people) on Sunday to the way the university’s athletic administration and staff handled the complexities of the president’s visit so that it went on very smoothly, this has been a great event.” Local officials “hope to use that kind of critique to leverage a future bid to host the First Four after their two-year deal with the NCAA runs out after the 2013 games return here and are coupled with NCAA tournament second- and third-round games as well.” The only concern was a “slight drop in attendance from 10,192 the second night last year to 7,219” yesterday. Although organizers “made a big push to sell tickets this year, they had seven of the eight teams who were sent here -- many from far away whose fans had little time to make the trip -- return part of their allotment of 200 each.” Only Western Kentucky Univ. “asked for extra seats, taking 1,300.” Univ. of Dayton Associate AD Tim O’Connell said, “The closest team to us this year was six hours away. If we had a regional team that would really help.” Hathaway added, “Everyone agreed Dayton did a great job here” (DAYTON DAILY NEWS, 3/15). Data from media-tracking service Cision says the Univ. of Dayton received an estimated "$400,000 in free advertising from news outlets worldwide that covered" President Obama and U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron attending the First Four game on Tuesday night (BIZJOURNALS.com, 3/15).
PART OF THE TOURNEY? This is the second year of the First Four games, and the L.A. Times' Bill Plaschke said, "This was the year that those first four games became part of the tournament. It was like the Super Bowl for these kids." The games on Tuesday featured two late come-from-behind wins by Western Kentucky and BYU, and the Denver Post's Woody Paige said the outcomes “made those first play-in games." Paige: "Those may be the two most exciting comebacks we’ll see throughout the entire tournament” (“Around The Horn,” ESPN, 3/14). ESPN's Tony Kornheiser said, "I accept that we have these games. None of them on paper would I have watched two weeks ago, but I accept that they’re the beginning of a tournament." Kornheiser: "People buy into the college basketball games, and there’s a certain excitement here. Look, there’s an historical imperative here. ... VCU came off this first set of games, so we’re always going to pay some attention, but they don’t really grab you” (“PTI,” ESPN, 3/14).
BOOST FOR THE CITY: Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau President Jim Wood said that the city’s first NCAA men’s basketball postseason since ‘91 “should bring about $3 million in spending to town.” In Louisville, Chris Otts noted this week’s first- and second-round games “also could provide a much-needed boost to help pay for the KFC Yum! Center.” The arena “uses a state program called tax-increment financing, which depends on a steady increase in tax revenues across a 6-square-mile area that includes downtown bars and restaurants.” The arena district “relies heavily on sales taxes, but so far they haven’t met expectations” (Louisville COURIER JOURNAL, 3/14).
BIGGER IS BETTER: In New Orleans, Nakia Hogan noted with the Final Four set to begin in less than three weeks, “work crews scurried about the Superdome getting the building ready for the NCAA men’s basketball championship.” Crews have started “adding more than 17,000 temporary lower bowl seats that will pull fans closer to the action.” Organizers said that the Final Four configuration “will allow for more than 74,000 fans to watch the game,” which Hogan noted is “so much bigger than it has ever been before.” Crews also were busy “setting up a massive octagon scoreboard that will be lifted above the court and installing additional sound for fans seated on the floor” (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 3/14).
