SERENITY REYNOLDS
Multimedia Journalist
OPPORTUNITIES THE
FINAL FOUR BROUGHT TO PHOENIX
By: Serenity Reynolds
EVENTS, EVENTS, and MORE EVENTS
Held all across the state were National Collegiate Athletics Association events geared toward the Final Four, orchestrated through the NCAA Final Four Host Committee, based not only in Phoenix but across Arizona.
D1 basketball seniors played in the Reese's College All-Star Game at the State Farm Stadium on the first day of the Final Four Weekend in Phoenix.
On Friday, April 5th, the State Farm Stadium opened its doors to the public for the Reese’s Men’s Final Four Friday, a free event that allowed anyone to watch an hour-long open practice of each team playing in the Final Four that weekend. The event also hosted the Reese’s NABC All-Star Game, featuring top senior student-athletes from around the country playing on the Men’s Final Four court. Later that night at Hance Park in downtown Phoenix was the NCAA March Madness Music Festival, a free three-day music festival with headliners such as Renee Rapp, Zedd, Mumford and Sons, and the Jonas Brothers, with local food vendors and other entertainment.
@Serenity Reynolds
@Serenity Reynolds
Pictured here is pop singer, Renee Rapp performing at the AT&T Block Party. The event was in Hance Park where many people gathered to listen to a free music festival all weekend long.
Other events included a Men’s Final Four Dribble, where children 18 and under dribbled a basketball on a one-mile course, through downtown Phoenix with their very own basketball and Final Four branded t-shirt, provided by the NCAA Committee. Two other events that took place across the entire weekend was the Men’s Final Four Tip-Off Tailgate, where those who had a ticket to any of the Final Four games could enjoy team pep rallies, musical performances, basketball-themed games, and food and beverages, and a Final Four Fan Fest, which took place over the entire weekend with food, interactive games, celebrity appearances, and sports paraphernalia at the Phoenix Convention Center. One of the event attendees, Blessing Fraser, described the weekend events as very interactive.
A link to all of the events can be found here.
“Everyone was super friendly, even the staff members were helpful."
STUDENT SECTION TICKETS
Arizona State University students were allowed the opportunity of a lifetime to attend the Final Four games for free. Through an ASU online lottery, students entered their school identification in hopes of being selected to help fill up one of the four participating school’s student sections. If selected, the student would receive a free-of-charge ticket to the game and be directed through a student-section entry point to their very own on-the-stadium-floor seats. Each student section was standing room only, with the corresponding school’s band and cheer team right in front of the student section. One of the ASU students who filled the student section, Braylon Wood, said he was so grateful to have attended the game. “Things like this don’t come often…I’m so lucky to have been selected,” Wood said.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
Over the past few years, Phoenix has gained a lot of attention from the people and events they’ve hosted, whether sports, politics, or entertainment-based. Arizona’s professional teams such as the Phoenix Suns, the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Phoenix Coyotes, the Phoenix Mercury, and the Arizona Cardinals, bring in enough revenue as it is, and events simply draw in more. Some events that have come to Phoenix in recent years include the 2023 Super Bowl LVII, the 2016 College Football Playoffs, the 2017 Lost Lake Festival, and big music names across the years such as Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Drake, and Kanye. In all of the sporting events alone, a report posted by Arizona Chamber Foundation and Rounds Consulting Group stated that since 1996, big-name events including the Cactus League, Phoenix Open, and past Super Bowls have generated between $180 million to $1.3 billion in economic impact per event. The report stated that the money comes from not only things like ticket sales and hotel expenses but also online gambling sites and external, national brand deals in connection to the city.
The Final Four brings a positive economic boost to whichever city is hosting the event, shown in the infographic below.
When Phoenix hosted the Final Four back in 2017, an ASU study conducted through the W.P. Carey School of Business found that hosting the championship generated an estimated $324.5 million boost to Phoenix. This year, the study showed that the estimated economic impact is to be anywhere between $200-$350 million. In an interview with Arizona PBS, the CEO of the Phoenix Final Four Local Organizing Committee Jay Perry said ASU will do the study again to keep continuity between the two events.
“It [Final Four] was a record-breaking success in Arizona,” Perry said. “We anticipate it will be significant again."
The bar graph pictured above is a visualization of the economic impact of each of the Final Four host cities in the previous recent years, The graphic features eight cities, starting with the most recent in 2023 and ending in 2015, excluding 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The economic impact is measured in millions of dollars. The data graphic shows that in 2017, Arizona had the highest economic impact in the past eight years, grossing $325 million, and in 2021, Indianapolis had the least with only $47 million which is suspected due to it being the year right after the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
Click on a state below to see where these numbers come from: