Fort Worth's Dickies Arena Set To Host First, Second Rounds Of NCAA Tournament
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - Dickies Arena in Fort Worth will be in the national spotlight as thousands of fans flock to the city for the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
The Fort Worth Sports Commission estimates $6 million in direct spending for the city with thousands of fans coming for the event.
On Monday, March 14, crews installed the basketball court at Dickies Arena.
"It's great to finally see it come to fruition," said Matt Homan, President and General Manager of Dickies Arena. "It's something we always had our eye on, we wanted to host this event being the first and second round here you get people coming here from all over the country able to watch their favorite teams."
The added foot traffic helps nearby businesses like Taco Heads, across the street from the arena.
"It's game time for us you know all hands on deck," said Taco Head General Manager Quintin Kellogg.
Kellogg estimates about a 30% increase in sales this week.
"That's a big jump for a small business like us so we're really excited for that," he said.
Over in the popular Fort Worth Stockyards, the owner of western wear shop, Sassy Pantz, Natalie Reed said about 90% of sales are from tourism and eager to see more new faces walk in the door.
"We're super excited about that," she said. "Obviously any event that brings people into the Stockyards it's always a good thing and we always to tend to benefit from it because this is such a high tourist area."
According to Air BNB, search in stays in the Dallas-Forth Worth during NCAA game weekend over March 17-21 increased by more than 200% from December 2021 to January 2022. Over the same weekend in 2019 – a typical year – hosts in Dallas-Fort Worth earned more than $1 million from March 17 – 21.
The games start on Thursday and the winners will face each other on Saturday before moving on to another arena in another city.
On Wednesday, there's open practice for the public with free parking.
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