With the entire tournament taking place in or near Indianapolis, there is no reason for the four geographic regions that have been a part of past NCAA brackets. The NCAA doesn’t have to ensure the best teams play closer to home.
Most of the games will be played at a handful of venues in Indianapolis, while remaining games will be played in West Lafayette and Bloomington.
The pandemic that landed March Madness in Indianapolis is also the complication that will strip some of the tournament’s ambience, but local officials are organizing safe activities.
Dr. Virginia Caine, executive director of the health department, said she expects the NCAA to formalize a request regarding fans “within the next one to two weeks,” and indicated recent data related to positive tests and hospitalizations is promising.
Host Mason King talks with Downtown Indy Inc.’s Bob Schultz, Keep Indianapolis Beautiful’s Jeremy Kranowitz and the Arts Council of Indianapolis’ Julie Goodman about the projects and cleanups they have planned.
The move Friday was made to help mitigate the risks of COVID-19 and matches that of the men’s tournament, which the NCAA said last month will be played in the Indianapolis area.
Deputy Chief Joshua Barker says the challenge requires lots of planning and coordination—with the NCAA, the Indiana Sports Corp., local businesses, and even other police departments throughout the region.
Local officials are scheduling neighborhood cleanups, public art initiatives and a slew of other efforts to help the city put its best foot forward when March Madness takes over downtown next month.
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-New York) introduced a bill Thursday that would guarantee college athletes the right to earn money from endorsements and sponsorship deals while barring the NCAA, schools and conferences from imposing restrictions.
The tournament will be played March 10-14 at Lucas Oil Stadium, sources say, because the women’s basketball tournament is already planned for Bankers Life Fieldhouse on overlapping dates.
EA Sports announced Tuesday that it is bringing back its college football video game series, a beloved franchise that was discontinued in 2013 after EA and the Indianapolis-based NCAA were taken to court over the unpaid use of player likenesses.
The Indianapolis-based National Collegiate Athletic Association saw revenue fall by more than 50% in its latest fiscal year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but was able to minimize the damage thanks to its financial contingency plan, the organization said.
Five of the city’s most prominent hotels, accounting for more than 2,800 rooms, will house the 68 teams in the three-week NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament that tips off March 18.
The much-anticipated opening Thursday of March Madness this year will belong to the play-in teams, part of a scrambled and modestly condensed schedule for the 2021 tournament released Tuesday.
NCAA President Mark Emmert’s remarks came during his state of college athletics address at the NCAA’s annual convention, which is being held virtually this week because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The logistics needed to pull off the entire NCAA tournament are incredible. But Indianapolis officials tell IBJ reporter Mickey Shuey they are up to the task. So podcast host Mason King talks with Shuey about what he’s learned and what’s left to figure out.
Hosting the entire 68-team NCAA men’s basketball tournament is likely to be a landmark event for Indianapolis and another boon for the city’s hospitality efforts, industry observers say.
The NCAA is set to delay a potential landmark vote on legislation that would permit college athletes to be compensated for their fame after the association received a warning from the Department of Justice about potential antitrust violations.
The herculean effort over the next 2-1/2 months will involve city and state officials, tourism and civic leaders, and likely thousands of volunteers.
Dr. Virginia Caine said the decision on further opening restaurants will be dictated by positivity rates, vaccine distribution and case counts much closer to the tournament.
