The Road to the Final Four begins in Dayton again this year with the NCAA Men’s First Four games on March 13th and 14th at the University of Dayton Arena. The Local Organizing Committee (LOC) charged with rallying community support for the games will begin promoting ticket sales during the first-half of the University of Dayton men’s home basketball game versus LaSalle, this Saturday, January 14, 7:00 pm at UD Arena.
To officially kick things off, informational announcements will take place at center-court, including the introduction of selected committee members and sponsors, key event partners, and an overview of community events, referred to as “The Big Hoopla.” The announcement will include business, civic and local elected leaders, as well as supporters from the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB, representing Big Hoopla partners. The LOC plans to reinforce the important relationship between the Dayton community and the U.S. Air Force.
Don Donoher, legendary UD Men’s Basketball Coach will serve as an honorary spokesperson for this year’s event. “We are honored to have someone of Coach Donoher’s stature join us in the community celebration of NCAA College Basketball,” said JP Nauseef, this year’s LOC Chair.
Updates on ticket sales and other events planned for this celebration also will be discussed. Tickets to get into the NCAA First Four games at UD Arena are going fast and some of the best seats have only limited availability at this point.
The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament is one of the most widely watched, successful media spectacles in all of sports. Last year, the NCAA expanded the field of participants and selected Dayton and UD Arena to host the inaugural NCAA First Four Games. Because Dayton was successful in hosting the inaugural event, the NCAA selected UD arena to host again this year and next year (2012-2013). Dayton has a strong track record hosting these events; in fact, the University of Dayton has hosted more NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament games than anywhere else in the Country, totaling 87 tournament games over the past 41 years, including the start of each championship since 2001. Hosting this event provides Dayton Region with a tremendous economic development opportunity for national exposure.
Leave a Reply