DAYTON, Ohio — University of Dayton Arena is decked out in full postseason grandeur this week as it once again is hosting the start of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
Converting the 13,409-seat facility into the site of this year’s First Four took several hours on Sunday. But Scott DeBolt, executive director of UD Arena, said the transformation was anything but madness.
UD Arena has served as home of the tournament’s opening round since 2001.
What You Need To Know
- A team of 100 people spent Sunday preparing University of Dayton Arena to host the NCAA's First Four
- UD Arena will host 39 basketball games in 19 days this March, including both the boy's and girl's state tournaments
- It takes nearly 400 people to operate the arena on game day
- UD officials describe the arena as being built to showcase the sport of basketball
A team of about 100 people worked inside and outside the arena to clean the building, install the NCAA Tournament flooring and add new signage throughout the arena.
Teams started to arrive Monday ahead of the games on Tuesday and Wednesday. Then, on Thursday, they’ll do it all over again ahead of the OHSAA boy’s state basketball tournament this weekend.
The girl’s state championship concluded Saturday night.
“It’s a lot to undertake… but as we like to say around here, it’s a little bit of rinse, repeat,” DeBolt said.
The First Four opens on Tuesday with a 6:40 p.m. tipoff between No. 16 seeds Southeast Missouri State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Pitt and Mississippi State, both 11 seeds, will play shortly after that game wraps up.
Wednesday features two games as well — No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson vs. No. 16 Texas Southern at 6:40 p.m., and then No. 11 Nevada vs. No. 11 Arizona State.
UD staff found out which teams were coming to Dayton last night at the same time as the rest of the world, DeBolt said. He and a few colleagues watched the selection show at the arena.
The Dayton Convention and Visitors Bureau began welcoming teams and out-of-town fans on Monday. It hosted the Big Hoopla on Sunday to celebrate First Four week. The day included several community events, including a four-mile run and a high school science competition at the downtown convention center.
They’ve already started planning for 2024.
“It’s truly a year-round process,” DeBolt said.
Dayton has played host to the opening round of the NCAA tournament since the inception of the play-in game more than two decades ago. The event expanded to two days and four games in 2011.
UD Arena has hosted more NCAA tournaments than any other facility since it opened on Dec. 6, 1969. The number will grow to 129 this week.
The slate of March games at UD Arena increased last year with the addition of both the girl’s and boy’s state tournaments. Each tournament is three days and features 12 total games.
By the end of the boy’s tournament on Sunday, UD Arena will have hosted 39 games over the course of 19 days.
“Little sleep and a lot of work,” a smiling DeBolt said of what he expects the next week to look like. “We had the good fortune of being able to do this last year, so we came into this year more prepared.”
“We like to call ourselves the epicenter of college basketball, and we’re just kind of expanding that to include high school games as well,” he added.
Having the high school tournament on either side of the First Four means UD Arena is in its general NCAA Tournament setup for almost three weeks, DeBolt said. As a result, those players get the benefit of some college-level amenities, such as the press conference room.
“It’s a unique experience for them,” DeBolt said.
A typical game day at UD Arena relies on the services of anywhere between 350 to 400 people. They do everything from traffic control and collecting tickets to operating the scoreboard. DeBolt said there may be a few others for the NCAA Tournament game.
Some of the staff are paid employees, but others are volunteers. The people working in concession stands, for example, are typically fundraising for a cause or a nonprofit.
“There’s a lot of a lot of folks involved, but at this point it’s a very familiar setup,” DeBolt said.
“It’s a total team effort,” he added. “The entire community really helps us. Mentally, just during our men’s and women’s basketball season, but particularly during March Madness.”
Neil Sullivan, the university’s vice president and director of athletics, said the UD Arena team prepares for this month all year. But he stressed they put the same effort into the dozens of Dayton Flyers games, high school contests and other events that take place there as well.
He described the team as second-to-none.
“We’ve got the best staff in the business,” Sullivan said. “It’s certainly a lot of long hours, but we got this to where it’s really a well-oiled machine.”
Sullivan specifically sung the praises of DeBolt, who he called “the maestro.”
“He’s the leader. He makes it all happen,” Sullivan said of DeBolt, who’s been with the University of Dayton since 2013.
UD Arena underwent an $80 million renovation in 2019. The venue hosts a variety of events throughout the year, Sullivan said, but he wouldn’t describe it as multipurpose.
“It was built for basketball,” Sullivan said. “It’s meant to serve as a showcase for the sport and that’s what we do every March.”
This month represents an opportunity to highlight the state-of-the-art building to people from across the state and a national TV audience, Sullivan said. But these tournaments also represent a chance to let the Gem City shine as well, according to the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce.
“From restaurants and bars to hotels and local boutiques, Dayton sees a positive gain in dollars and visitors who experience the vibrancy of our community,” the organization wrote in a statement regarding the NCAA and high school tournaments.
Dayton is the perfect site to host the First Four and the high school because basketball is a way of life in the city, Sullivan said. He called the fan base knowledgeable about the ins and outs of the sport. "They’re just passionate about the game."
Sullivan joked a person could roll a ball out onto the arena floor and Dayton would pack the stands to watch.
Tickets to UD men’s basketball games have sold out the past two years.
“Our community just embraces the events, both financially and just showing out and supporting teams,” Sullivan added. “They’re excited to cheer on some great basketball.”
The OHSAA state tournaments will take place at UD Arena through at least 2024. The university’s contract for the First Four expires in 2026.
“We’d like to host as long as it makes sense for them and as long as it makes sense for us,” Sullivan said.