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NCAA tournament brings excited fans, nearly booked hotel rooms

"On a nonrecovery pandemic year, Buffalo is always one of the first cities to sell out their tickets. So, I would say, we are probably ahead of the game."

BUFFALO, N.Y. — March Madness is driving up prices of hotel rooms and many are already close to selling out. 

From New York to South Carolina, thousands of fans are here in Buffalo, and are excited to root for their teams.

In Erie County, there are over 11,000 hotel rooms. In downtown Buffalo, there are very few rooms available, but if you have not booked your room, you may have better luck in the suburbs.

"We were a little bit unsure with COVID if people would be were willing to come out again, with some of the restrictions that are lucky have lifted but are still some, so people may be unsure. But, we then have been blown away. We were sold this weekend, typically in March, it's hard to come by," Matt Chiazza, the general manager at Hyatt Place in Williamsville said.

After the wins and losses from the first tournament day, event organizers say they expect to have more fans coming in for the Saturday games.

"Once they know their teams have won, some of those students are out of class for the rest of the week, so they will make the drive-in for those games," said Patrick Kaler, the president and CEO at Visit Buffalo Niagara.

"There's been a couple trickling in, earlier in the week. I think the more excited ones are coming in a couple of days before the game start, probably taking a couple of days off of work. Because they are excited," Chiazza said.

And as far as the tickets go, there continue to be a couple of thousand tickets left at this point.

"On a non recovery pandemic year, Buffalo is always one of the first cities to sell out their tickets. So, I would say, we are probably ahead of the game," Kaler said.

"It's just nice to have people back again and be able to service them. That's what we do for a living. For the last two years, not been able to serve people and talk to people have crowds of people. It's been so hard on us. This is what we thrive on, busy weekends and sold-out weekends we are ready for it. We love it. Bring it on," Chiazza said.

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