Tickets were snapped up fast for this year’s Final Four, almost assuring a record economic impact for Indianapolis. But two
more wins for Purdue or Butler could bring down projected visitor spending.
It started as a meeting seven years ago between the NCAA, city and state officials, representatives of the Indiana
Sports Corp. and a few others. The result was an agreement
assuring Indianapolis hosts a major NCAA event every year between now and 2039.
Over and above its predecessors, this year’s event is going to blow you away.
Organizers credit stronger ticket-selling efforts and new promotions for boosting attendance to more than 81,000, the highest
it’s been since the tournament became an annual event in Indianapolis.
The Big Ten men’s and women’s basketball tournaments will be held in Indianapolis the next two years, but the conference’s
future in the city is uncertain after 2012.
The NCAA is discussing whether to expand the 65-team men’s basketball tournament, a topic with no shortage of controversy
and opinions.
Annual unscientific survey does not take into account that many employees who participate in office pools devote extra time
to finishing their responsibilities.
CBS and Turner Sports are discussing a joint bid for the broadcast rights to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament rights if
the
NCAA decides to opt out of its current deal.
Greg Shaheen, NCAA senior vice president of basketball and business strategies, said the deal needs tweaking
because Lucas Oil Stadium was in the conceptual stages when Indianapolis won the bid to host the 2010
Final Four.
The NCAA might expand its annual men’s tournament from the current three-week, 65-team format
to one featuring an added week and a whopping 96 teams. Proponents of the plan say it will generate a bigger
television rights-fee deal for the not-for-profit NCAA, which disperses 95 percent of the income to member institutions.
Talk of expanding the NCAA tournament is almost always done in public, most notably by Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim in 2006.
Now, the Indianapolis-based NCAA is looking into it behind closed doors—at least preliminarily.
One of the legacies left behind by the late NCAA President Myles Brand is a 10-person startup company tucked in a high-rise
office building in downtown Indianapolis that is just starting to make its mark on the basketball world.
Indy’s month of March, 2010, will produce a basketball madness few cities can duplicate.
Highway signs around Indianapolis are getting makeovers to help direct Super Bowl 2012 visitors to downtown attractions.
Lucas Oil Stadium suite holders are upset that the NCAA is taking their luxury boxes for the men’s basketball Final Four
in April and reselling them on the secondary—or scalpers—market.
Indianapolis has been selected to host a regional round of the 2013 NCAA men’s basketball tournament, the NCAA announced
today.
A little more than six months before the 2010 NCAA men’s Final Four is set to tip off at Lucas Oil Stadium, the NCAA
has not yet finalized a rental deal for the facility. While officials for the NCAA and Local Organizing Committee,
the group charged with operating the event in Indianapolis, downplay any problems, sports business experts say it is unusual
not to have an agreement pinned down in the months leading up to the event.
My prevailing thoughts upon returning from Detroit were how fortunate Indianapolis is when it comes to hosting these kinds of events, and how a thriving downtown is essential to (A) success of the region and (B) national perception.
If there is any one individual who can turn around the Pacer organization and the NBA, remember, Bird is the word.
It might have been easier for Larry Bird to lead the championship game of the NCAA’s men’s basketball tournament 30 years
ago with those improbable underdog Sycamores than to right the ship he’s steering as president of basketball for the Indiana
Pacers now.
