DAYTON — The City of Dayton is at the center of the college basketball world this week with the First Four and it’s one of the city’s biggest moneymakers every year.
>>PHOTOS: First Four teams practice at UD Arena
The teams that will play in Tuesday’s First Four games took to the court for practice Monday afternoon at UD Arena as the First Four is back in Dayton for the second year in row since Covid put a two-year pause on the event in the Miami Valley in 2020 and 2021.
“It’s really exciting,” said Jacquie Powell, Dayton Convention and Visitors Bureau President and CEO. “We’re very, very, very please to be welcoming eight teams today into our community.”
She said a lot of folks come into the area and it may be the first time they come into the community.
>>PHOTOS: UD Arena hosting First Four
News Center 7′s John Bedell spoke with First Four organizers Monday and they are hoping for a sellout. But they tell him, the impact of this event goes beyond happens inside the UD Arena.
The Dayton Convention and Visitors Bureau tracks the outside money that comes into our community as a result of the First Four. It includes things like the money people spend on hotel rooms, tickets to the games, plus retail spending and people buying drinks and meals at our local restaurants and bars.
This also includes the local taxes on all those purchases.
>>Matchups announced for this year’s First Four in Dayton
The CVB told Bedell the First Four is among the “top two or three” events in the Miami Valley every year in terms of direct economic spending impacts.
“It’s been a success here,” said Powell. “We are a city of basketball fans. And that’s the other thing that’s really, really important. When you come to the arena, the seats are full here. It doesn’t matter what the teams are. They’re here to see basketball. They’re sold out.”
Along with the First Four and Winter Guard Invitational (WGI), the Bureau says the other top local events based on that metric include the Adidas Warrior Memorial Day Classic, a youth soccer tournament in the spring. Other events are the Dayton Air Show, Hamvention and the Air Force Marathon.
“Certainly events like WGI bring a great deal of economic impact into the community as well,” Powell told Bedell. “Any number of events that we bring in and some of them are annual pieces of business and then again, some pieces of business that we work on may only come in for a year and then, they’re gone.”
>>Practice schedule for each First Four team in Dayton; Free, open to public
Powell also said the national exposure is also good for the Dayton region.
“You know Dayton’s name is out there right now,” she told Bedell. “We were all watching Selection Sunday last evening. And you know, Dayton again, being the first games, it’s very important for our community that we get this kind of recognition and exposure.”
>>UD Arena crews flipped UD Arena floor ahead of this year’s First Four
Bedell asked Powell about the economic impact of this year’s First Four and how it compares to previous years.
“We won’t know this year until after the event, but last year, the event brought approximately $5.2 million in direct spending economic impact,” she said. “That was up over previous years where it was more like 4.8.”
The city is under contract to get the First Four until 2026.
We will track the calculation the CVB makes for the economic impact of this year’s First Four and we will let you know what they come up with.