Times Union Center bidding on three NCAA Division I tournaments

Donna Abbott-Vlahos

The Times Union Center has hosted NCAA men?s basketball and wrestling championship tournaments in various years since the arena opened in 1990, but never women?s basketball or women?s volleyball.

The Times Union Center could host up to three NCAA Division I championship tournaments starting in 2015 -- games that would not require expanding the sports arena at an estimated cost of $6 million to $11 million.

The arena?s general manager, Bob Belber, said bids will be submitted to the NCAA to host regional championship tournaments for women?s basketball, women?s volleyball, and men?s ice hockey from 2015 to 2018.

Belber is working with the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and Siena College on the women?s basketball and volleyball bids. The Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Union College are teaming up with the arena on the hockey bid.

The bids are due Sept. 16. The NCAA will announce the winning sites in December.

The games, if awarded, are expected to draw thousands of fans to the county-owned arena for two-day tournaments in March and December of those years, and help fill local bars, restaurants and hotels.

?The reality is if you bring in, for example, the regional women?s basketball tournament my guess is we?ll probably have close to 65 to 70 percent of the people who attend the event come from outside this market, and fill every hotel in a 50-mile radius,? Belber said.

The Times Union Center last hosted an NCAA Division I tournament in 2010, when the men?s ice hockey East Regional was played there.

The arena has also hosted NCAA men?s basketball and wrestling championship tournaments in various years since the arena opened in 1990, but never women?s basketball or women?s volleyball.

?These championships that we?re bidding on we feel can bring in huge crowds,? Belber said. ?We can generate not just enough to cover expenses but to provide the NCAA with the net revenues they?re looking for.?

DeMasi covers real estate, construction, retail and hospitality.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/vertical_13/~3/2p_CfgiPhPM/times-union-center-bidding-on-three.html

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