Little Caesars Arena will host opening-round NCAA Tournament games in '21GETTY IMAGES
The city of Detroit's efforts to bring in major sporting events in recent years have "all hit roadblocks," proving that "getting back in the game is harder than ever," according to John Niyo of the DETROIT NEWS. Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau Senior VP/Sales, Marketing & Sports Dave Beachnau said, "It’s not as easy as it looks. People don’t understand the competitive nature of going after these events.” Niyo notes it "takes more than a sparkling new venue like Little Caesars Arena or huge capital investments" such as Ford Field’s recent $100M renovation to "lure the kind of high-profile events that sports fans here grew accustomed to a decade ago." Detroit will host a "variety of NCAA championships over the next few years," including hockey’s Frozen Four next March and the '22 wrestling finals. LCA will host opening-round NCAA men’s basketball again in '21, and this August, the arena will also host the League of Legends Championship Series event that is "expected to attract 15,000 esports gaming fans." But last summer’s failure to land another men’s Final Four was a "blow for local organizers, losing out to other municipalities with built-in advantages ranging from government funding to larger hotel inventories and mass transit." Still, Beachnau said the region "really is poised for another run." Niyo notes a 16-member local organizing committee formed in late '17 -- the Detroit Sports Organizing Corporation -- has consolidated its "big-game hunting efforts" (DETROIT NEWS, 6/4).
