ST. LOUIS (KMOX)-March Madness is coming to St. Louis, and it’s going to last nearly all month-long.
It starts the first week of March with the Missouri Valley Conference men’s basketball tournament at Scottrade Center. The next week it’s the Valley’s women’s basketball tournament in St. Charles. Then on St. Patrick’s Day weekend the NCAA Wrestling Championships return to the Scottrade Center. The weekend after that, the Road to the Final Four passes through the Edward Jones Dome with the Midwest basketball Regional.
St. Louis Sports Commission President Frank Viverito tells KMOX the regional alone should add about $20 million to the local economy, “When you’re doing a dome regional and you have teams that bring a good number of fans, that’s been a pretty good estimate.”
Viverito says that while St. Louis University isn’t eligible play at the dome because it’s hosting the regional, The University of Missouri could. He says other midwestern schools with strong followings, including Indiana, could come here, “I think this year, especially there are a lot of teams that could bring a large number of fans to St. Louis.”
Viverito says there are plenty of tickets left for the regional, but they will go fast once the teams are announced.
This will be the sixth time in the last 12 years the Scottrade Center will host the NCAA Wrestling Championships. Viverito says that’s a great event for the city, ”Our numbers tell us about 92 to 93 percent are going to be from out-of-town.”
Viverito says for the first time, all three sessions are basically sold out, with only about 200 tickets remaining.
He says that bodes well for the city, because it’s about to enter another round of competition to host future wrestling championships.
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