🔒Vaunted NCAA basketball tournament returns to unlikely home in Hartford’s XL Center

The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament has become a lucrative endeavor for host cities, triggering a week of national exposure and millions of dollars in revenues for local economies.

Hartford's XL Center is one of 14 locations positioned to reap the economic benefits of hosting part of this year's so-called “March Madness” tournament, which annually ranks as the second-largest postseason sporting event in terms of ad revenue behind the Super Bowl.

The NCAA's decision to name Hartford a host city in 2017 may have come as a surprise to some, especially given talks in recent years about XL Center's aging infrastructure and the loss of events to other nearby venues, including casinos.

However, despite the potential longer-term need for major renovations, the arena's overseers say they aggressively pitched XL Center as ready to reclaim the national events stage amid recent facility upgrades and a management team emboldened by experience stewarding the arena over the last seven or so years.

XL Center operators Spectra Venue Management, a subsidiary of Comcast-Spectacor, and the quasi-public Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA), say they touted the more than $40 million that has been spent to upgrade the XL Center over the last five years, a move they say made the facility more attractive to the single-elimination tournament, which will end a 21-year drought in the city when it returns to Hartford, March 21 and March 23.

Recent improvements to XL Center have included adding a fan club, new seating and concessions, updated bathrooms and more modern locker rooms.

With about 16,000 seats, XL also proved it's equipped with enough crowd space, staff and accommodations to handle larger events, as it did over the last six years when it hosted college basketball tournaments for the Big East and American Athletic conferences. UConn's national title success in both men's and women's basketball is also believed to have showcased the region as a mecca for college hoops, officials said.

“The experience with the NCAA as well as recent improvements to the facility put XL in a place where it could compete,” says CRDA Executive Director Michael Freimuth. “We couldn't have had this tournament five years ago.”

Organizers expect the men's tournament to inject at least $7.7 million into Greater Hartford's economy, which amounts to $548,000 in sales tax revenues for the state of Connecticut.

In addition, the state's 10 percent admissions tax will raise additional revenues for the state.

XL and the NCAA, a nonprofit organization, will also share profits from beer and tickets sales. Tickets have been fluctuating from around $65 per game to more than $270 for all four games on the tournament's opening day on March 21, according to online ticket exchange websites.

That economic activity will be driven by out-of-state travelers, who are expected to spend at least three days crowding downtown hotels, bars, restaurants, stores and parking lots.

Officials have been encouraged by early ticket sales, which are also ongoing for host venues in Washington, D.C., Minneapolis, Minn., Columbus, Ohio, Louisville, Ky., Jacksonville, Fla., Salt Lake City, Utah, and Anaheim and San Jose, Calif.

The hope is that XL will sell out the six-game slate to be played over two days in front of crowds of 14,000 or more, depending on the NCAA's seating configuration. And that shouldn't be a problem: XL Center already leads more than half of the first- and second-round host cities in terms of early tickets sales, figures show.

“The NCAA is aware and they keep a pulse on where things are turning regionally,” said Spectra General Manager Christopher Lawrence, whose company has contributed millions of dollars to XL, in addition to overseeing Rentschler Field and business operations for the Hartford Wolfpack.

“I don't think they would come here if they had any hesitation,” Lawrence said. “Now it's our opportunity to showcase their faith in us that we can put on a first-class event.”

XL, Greater Hartford readies

Spectra is now winding down a robust, multiyear planning effort to ready XL Center for its national close up, with games airing live on either CBS, TBS, TNT or TruTV.

In March 2018, Lawrence and Freimuth traveled to Pittsburgh to study how operators of PPG Paints Arena managed the first and second rounds of last year's NCAA tournament. Their research gave them insights on how to set up sprawling media areas and manage timing of fans coming in and out of games during both afternoon and evening game sessions.

There is also a concerted effort to coordinate crowd control, especially traffic and parking, with the Hartford Police Department and other security.

Meantime, outside the 44-year-old arena, representatives from more than a dozen local agencies are working to promote city assets or streamline logistics for transportation, lodging, parking and security.

XL Center is relying on the MetroHartford Alliance and newly revived Hartford Chamber of Commerce to provide backend support, ensuring the city's downtown corridor and businesses are prepared for incoming crowds.

Both economic boosters are getting members to purchase game tickets, and will help encourage fans to visit free “open practices” on Wednesday, March 20, at the arena.

A pop-up brew pub will also be taking over Pratt Street on game days, with traffic closed in both directions to accommodate fans who want to grab a drink from local distillery Hartford Flavor Co. or the city's four breweries: City Steam Brewery Cafe, Hanging Hills Brewing Co., Thomas Hooker Brewery and Hop River Brewing Co.

The pop-up brewery event is being put on by the Hartford chamber and the Hartford Business Improvement District, whose staff will be canvassing sidewalks around XL during tournament week to encourage pedestrians to attend March 20's open practices and serve as tour guides for visitors looking for discounted food or drink specials.

“There's a lot of logistical planning that goes into this,” Lawrence said. “If we were to fill the place throughout the day on Wednesday's practice session, that leaves an impact on the (NCAA) selection committee. Hopefully we can turn this into something that comes back … where we are part of the NCAA's rotation.”

The Connecticut Convention & Sports Bureau (CTCSB) has also served as a key resource between the region's hotel market, the NCAA and XL.

CTCSB is leveraging numerous hotels in Hartford, East Hartford, Windsor, Glastonbury and Cromwell as grounds for lodging the droves of players, coaches, training staff, media, cheerleaders, bands, alumni groups, referees and fans traveling to Greater Hartford for the tournament.

Estimates show more than 3,500 room nights are expected to be booked in nine of the region's hotels to house tournament visitors.

City organizers are hoping a nationally known team — such as potential No. 1 seeds Duke or Kentucky — is selected to play at XL Center because it would likely create an even bigger economic boost for the arena, city and region.

“The tournament should sellout the region. … The Hartford Marriott has been sold out for months,” says Robert Murdock, CTCSB's newly appointed president. “Not only are people coming in to watch the games, we'll get a lot of people trying to be near the event in the city where their team is.”

XL's fate uncertain

While XL Center enjoys a boost this March, it's long-term future remains a big uncertainty.

CRDA has been lobbying for a major renovation to the arena, originally asking for a $250 million state investment then scaling that request down to $100 million last year after state lawmakers balked at the original price tag.

The arena's fate now rests partially in the hands of Gov. Ned Lamont, whose recently proposed two-year budget didn't allocate any XL Center funding.

At the same time, Lamont has said he wants to cut state borrowing by 39 percent, meaning less funding will be available for major projects like an arena overhaul.

CRDA last year also sought prospective buyers to acquire and renovate the aging arena, which has been a consistent money-loser in recent years, but that effort fell flat with just one bid from a Chicago private-equity investor.

What is certain, according to Freimuth, is that more XL investments result in more dollars for Connecticut's coffers.

“Events of this scale could only be made possible with more investments,” says Freimuth.