Regional crowds this year were the highest since the NCAA switched to neutral sites after the '14 seasonGETTY IMAGES
Fans this year "flocked to the women's NCAA tournament, which had its highest attendance in more than 15 years," according to Doug Feinberg of the AP. Nearly 275,000 people attended the women's tourney, which "ranked eighth all-time." The regionals "provided a strong boost," as first-time site Portland "averaged more than 11,400 fans and will host again next year." Chicago and Albany also had "strong attendance," and three of the regional sites had teams with "strong fan bases within driving distance." Regional crowds this year were its "highest since the NCAA switched to neutral sites" after the '14 season. It was "only two years ago that the NCAA saw 20-year lows in regional attendance." Meanwhile, the Univ. of Iowa "set a record for combined first- and second-round attendance drawing 23,096 fans in Iowa City." That "shattered the previous mark of 21,129 set by South Carolina" in '15. The average attendance of 5,299 at the 16 sites was the "highest for the opening rounds" since '08 (AP, 4/7).
SEAMLESS TRANSITION: PRO FOOTBALL TALK's Mike Florio wrote U.S. Bank Stadium, site of the men's Final Four, currently is the NFL's "best venue," and the fact that the stadium "transitioned so seamlessly to an oversized basketball arena makes it even more impressive." All of the windows were "covered to facilitate proper lighting for basketball, the purple seats in the lower bowl were replaced with a swarm of black folding chairs, the one-of-a-kind roof was concealed by a Close Encounters mother ship spreadsheet that hovered over the floor." The end result was that the venue "didn't feel like a football stadium, at all" (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 4/7).
JAM-PACKED WEEKEND: In Minneapolis, Olson & Adler in a front-page piece note Final Four events this weekend in the Twin Cities were "well-attended." The crowd for Saturday's semifinal games was 72,711, "about 5,000 more" than the attendance for Super Bowl LII. A "whopping 36,000 fans" on Friday went to U.S. Bank Stadium as each Final Four team "held an open practice." The March Madness Music Series free concerts "started Friday, as did the Fan Fest in the convention center and the Tip-off Tailgate at Nicollet Mall." In St. Paul yesterday, "several hundred kids and parents attended a 'celebrity' game," with Basketball HOFers Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal as coaches. Also yesterday, the Final Four Dribble was "moved indoors" due to rain (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 4/8).
