Pittsburgh preps for March Madness maniacs as city again hosts the Big Dance

Sure, the Robert Morris Colonials have hung up their tricornered hats. But the Duquesne Dukes are still dribbling, and the Pitt Panthers might slip in by a whisker despite long odds.

No matter how the local teams fare after the brackets are built today for March Madness, college basketball’s premier tournament, Pittsburgh is guaranteed to come up a winner.

For the fifth time since 2012, PPG Paints Arena this week will host early rounds of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, and that translates to millions of dollars flowing into bars, restaurants and hotels in the Golden Triangle and beyond.

Pittsburgh Councilman Anthony Coghill, a board member of the Sports and Exhibition Authority, which owns the arena as well as PNC Park and Acrisure Stadium, knows the kind of boost the tournament will bring, and he welcomes it.

The Democrat from Beechview called it a “shot in the arm.”

“People come down to see these top-notch college (athletes),” Coghill said. “It’s a great entertainment source.”

Thousands of rabid fans will swarm into the venue in Pittsburgh’s Central Business District neighborhood to watch first- and second-round games Thursday and Saturday while the arena’s usual denizens, the slumping Penguins, will head to Dallas and Denver.

One of those basketball boosters will be NCAA superfan Garrett Smith, 35, of Shadyside.

March Madness is four weeks of “pure adrenaline,” Smith said. He and his family members have tickets to all the games on Thursday and Saturday.

“March Madness really plays with your emotions, from a jubilant victory to an agonizing defeat,” said Smith, a die-hard Michigan State fan. “It’s exhilarating.”

He plans on having 10 — yes, 10 — brackets with friends. He’s learned that many brackets are better than just one.

“I pick a different winner every time, and then I never feel upset,” said Smith, a master trainer at LA Fitness in Bakery Square in Pittsburgh’s East End. “If one loses, then I always have a chance.”

Showing off

Nearly 20,000 people attended March Madness games in Pittsburgh when the city last hosted the event in 2022, according to SportsPittsburgh, an arm of VisitPittsburgh, the region’s tourism agency.

They spent about $10.4 million, SportsPittsburgh said, up $2 million from 2018 when Pittsburgh also acted as a host city. Despite the hype and hoopla, expectations are for revenue to remain flat this year.

The agency said it didn’t have estimates for how much the previous NCAA tournament games here brought in. This year, like always, Pittsburgh will split the fan base during the first and second rounds with seven other host cities.

With all the tournament cities to pick from, Smith’s relatives decided to trek to Pittsburgh.

His three aunts, one uncle, two cousins and brother will join him at PPG Paints Arena, journeying from North Carolina and Harrisburg, his hometown. His wife will take in a game, too.

It’s no wonder Smith adores March Madness. A basketball fan and player for as long as he can remember, he comes from a long line of hoops fanatics. His brother was a high school coach, his dad is a basketball coach and his aunt played in high school.

“It’s my favorite sporting event of the year — I’m not kidding,” Smith said.

No matter how many bracketologists descend on Allegheny County this month, what they spend won’t stack up to megastar Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour last summer, which sold out two nights at Acrisure Stadium and pumped $46 million into the local economy.

That said, the tournament gives Pittsburgh yet another chance to show off to out-of-towners. Smith believes the city is underrated, but hosting the NCAA Tournament kicks its reputation up a notch or two in the eyes of skeptics.

“It speaks volumes of what Pittsburgh is,” Smith said. “It brings us to a national scale … it makes the city come alive.”

Just as an NFL “Monday Night Football” game, replete with aerial shots of a lit-up Downtown, allows the city to put its best foot forward for a national audience, the NCAA Tournament gives Pittsburgh a similar chance to glow — much like the title of the March Madness theme song: “One Shining Moment.”

“We’re putting Pittsburgh, Duquesne University and PPG Paints Arena in a national — if not international — spotlight,” said Jennifer Hawkins, executive director of SportsPittsburgh. “The opportunity for Pittsburgh to shine on a national and international stage just shows how active of a sports community Pittsburgh is.”

It’s a demanding event to host, she said, and a competitive process to be selected. Host cities must have practice facilities, hotels near the venue and people who can serve as concierges for the teams.

Once again, Duquesne University is the master of ceremonies. It’s the seventh time since 1997 that the school has hosted NCAA tournament games.

Busy weekend

Patty Iannotta, for one, can’t wait. The DoubleTree Pittsburgh’s sales director and her hotel’s 342 rooms are ready for the hordes. She expects a sellout at the hotel, something that usually doesn’t happen in late March.

“It’s a big boon for us,” Iannotta said. “It’s a great way to show off the city, too.”

She plans to post a gigantic wall-to-wall bracket in the lobby to allow guests to track the matchups and winners.

“That’s going to be a very busy weekend in the city,” said Michael Medeiros, general manager at the Omni William Penn hotel, which is also counting on being filled to capacity.

Medeiros said he previously worked at hotels in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Boston when those cities played host to March Madness games.

“March Madness, in every city I’ve worked at, does really well,” he said. “I think it’s going to be good for the hotel industry.”

It’s also a boost for local restaurants, said Marcus Connor, a chef at Forbes Tavern, just up the street from Market Square. Sporting events, he said, are always good for business.

“It’s pretty packed,” he said of the Downtown bar and restaurant on days when there are major sporting events in town. “I wish it was a bigger place.”

They’ll be showing the March Madness games on televisions, he said, as they welcome sports fans who will throng to the area for the tournament.

Being so close to Duquesne’s campus, Moonlit Burgers Uptown expects brisk business, according to Dante Wright, a manager at the burger joint.

Recently, Wright said, one of the Duquesne coaches stopped by to alert the restaurant to be ready for a wave of customers Wednesday through Saturday.

Crowds are expected to swamp Forbes Avenue and the surrounding neighborhood within several blocks of PPG Paints Arena, and Moonlit stands in the heart of it.

“All of this is just going to get hit all day long,” Wright said, “and that’s what we’re here for.”

Looking ahead

One March Madness stalwart with a history of helping to prop up the local economy is Eric Newill, 48, of Unity. The tournament is a sacred event for him.

“That’s the one time of year I say I will never work that day ever,” Newill said.

His March Madness tradition started a decade ago when he and one of his best friends decided to get connecting room suites in a Monroeville hotel for one night and in a Pittsburgh hotel the next night. They had the best of both worlds: Pittsburgh’s St. Patrick’s Day parade and all the NCAA Tournament games on multiple TVs.

When the pandemic hit, Newill’s group shelved their traditional outing for two years. When it resumed, Newill hosted at his house.

This year, he’s staying put again instead of emptying his wallet at a hotel. Newill plans to host 15 to 20 people at his house, where they’ll follow the madness on TV in his “fan cave.”

While Newill is prepping for the games this week, officials with SportsPittsburgh and Duquesne are looking further ahead.

The university has put in bids to host March Madness rounds in 2027 and 2028, SportsPittsburgh’s Hawkins said.

Coghill, the city councilman, hopes the tournament keeps returning to Pittsburgh.

Maybe one day, the city will even hit the equivalent of a buzzer-beater by landing a Final Four game.

“The fact they keep coming back,” Coghill said, “I think they’ve had good experiences here.”

David Worlock, an NCAA spokesman, said several attributes make a “quality host city” for events like March Madness: the venue, the hotels, the transportation and the workers.

“Without question,” Worlock said, “Pittsburgh checks those boxes across multiple championships.”