March Madness: Downtown Sacramento businesses excited for NCAA Tournament
SACRAMENTO — The week in Sacramento starts with the NBA-leading Milwaukee Bucks coming to town, followed up in the middle of the week with Carrie Underwood and then finished out with the NCAA Tournament. And that last one, in particular, has the chance to make a huge impact on Sacramento now and moving forward.
At Midtown Gastrobar, there's a calm before the storm.
"We are expecting to be very busy," says manager Lucas Osorios. "This March Madness goes with St. Patrick's so we're going to be a bit theming there. We're going to have some specials with the Irish drinks and our beer."
It's going to be a busy weekend for Sacramento. One that Scott Ford of the Downtown Partnership says can showcase the city.
"[It's] not just the eight different colleges that are coming here with their fans and their staffs to visit Sacramento, but you've also got a national and international TV audience that is seeing this market," says Ford.
Dave Eadie of Visit Sacramento hopes that a good showing can prompt more investment in the city.
"Event organizers talk and they know that if an event goes really well in Sacramento, that they see that and know that it would be a great place for our event and builds our case for one of the premiere places for sporting events on the West Coast," Eadie explains.
That's something Ford says can lead to even bigger things.
"It also gets the attention of investors who we want to see the type of capital investment into additional hotel inventory, into additional housing stock in the urban core," he says.
The NCAA Tournament is projected to bring nearly $10 million in economic impacts and VisitSacramento projects roughly 11,000 cumulative hotel nights among all guests this week in the Sacramento region. The games begin on Thursday, March 16.