BUFFALO, N.Y. — The excitement is building for March Madness in Buffalo, one of eight sites hosting the first two rounds of the NCAA Division 1 men's basketball tournament.
It begins on Thursday.
Hosting tournament games is nothing new for Buffalo, having done so seven times, with the last time being in 2017.
However, there is a special feeling for the return of the tournament this year as it represents the first major event the city has been able to host since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic two years ago and comes at a time when restrictions are falling as fast as cases of coronavirus.
"It is absolutely huge for us to be able to come out of the pandemic and host this major event," said Patrick Kaler, President of Visit Buffalo Niagara.
Considering that the 2020 tournament ended up being canceled, and the 2021 event was restricted to a single state (Indiana) where COVID-associated crowd restrictions made attendance sparse, cities hosting this year, like Buffalo, are getting on on the ground floor of a new day.
All We Need Are Fans
While ticket sales haven't yet reached the sell-out levels of the 2017 tournament in Buffalo, they are approaching that level according to Richard Ensor, Commissioner of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
The MAAC includes Canisius and Niagara, neither of which made it to the tournament but are considered the "host" schools for the games in Buffalo.
"The issue is you still have to convince people it's okay to go out and be in a crowd. It's gonna take a while...but we're excited by the mix of teams coming in," Ensor said.
The Buffalo bracket includes four teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 25, and three teams representing schools that are a six or seven-hour drive from Buffalo.
"From a strictly economic and attendance viewpoint were really pleased with the teams," said Ensor, noting the fans of those teams might be more willing to make the drive to Buffalo after the participating teams were announced Sunday night.
"We've got two Big East programs and Vermont which is fairly drivable," he said.
More Things For Fans to See and Do than in 2017
There are more things for visitors to see and do near the tournament site at KeyBank Center according to Kaler, who noted the Carousel and the Explore and More Children's Museum, both at Canalside, did not even exist when the tournament last came here in 2017.
Another heretofore unavailable attraction, the Cave of The Winds in Niagara Falls, will be open after having offered winter tours for the first time in its history.
There are also additional dining and drinking opportunities within blocks of the arena in the form of the Labatt Brew House and the Hofbräuhaus, along with additional hotel space compared to five years ago.
There is even a new way for returning fans to get around, as ride-sharing had not been approved for this region of New York State back in 2017.
"It was a completely different community back then," remarked Kaler, noting that the absence of ride-sharing services when the tournament last came here, was a major impetuous for getting lawmakers to approve its expansion into Western New York.