MAC Tournament kicks off busy downtown season

CLEVELAND (WJW) – Cleveland is well-known for being a great sports town and hosting big time events. But this spring, things are ramping up to new heights thanks to a busy schedule filled with high-level events, including multiple opportunities to watch championship basketball.

The MAC Conference Tournament is already underway, running from March 13-16, and serves as the springboard for a busy spring where tens of thousands of people will visit the Forest City.

Bunches of eager fans filed into Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Thursday for the first day of the Men’s MAC tourney.

“I’m really excited,” Akron Zips fan Scott Buckosh said. “I love the March Madness. I always have four TVs set up in my basement and I’ll be doing that next week. So, this is kind of the kickoff to that. We got the Cavs playing well, we got the Women’s Final Four and got MAC action today.”

The MAC Tournament leads straight into a massive event in Cleveland, the NCAA Women’s Final Four – an event that hopes to see college stars like Iowa’s Caitlyn Clark or LSU’s Angel Reese to town for the championship. No matter who makes the Final Four, it’s expected to be sold out.

“What a time to have the world’s eyes on Cleveland,” Greater Cleveland Sports Commission Vice President of Business Development Monica Gustin said.

Gustin is serving as the Executive Director for the 2024 NCAA Women’s Final Four Tournament in Cleveland. Gustin, along with many, expect this tournament to be one of the biggest in NCAA Women’s history, which will have a tremendous economic impact on Cleveland.

“So in 2018, we were estimating $22 million of economic impact,” Gustin said. “Now we could be looking at upwards of $30 million.”

Restaurants, bar, small businesses and hotels are expected to see huge boosts from traveling fans, but not only from the sporting events, but the total solar eclipse event on April 8. When you couple a potential Cavs playoff run and Guardians Opening Day, it makes for a great situation for the city.

Downtown Marriott General Manager Bob Megazzini said hotels are going fast.

“We are sold out for the women’s tournament,” Megazzini said. “We are almost sold out for the eclipse. And then as Cavs playoffs get announced, that’ll be you know, we’ll fill up on those days as well.”

The economic boost is a welcome sign after a tough stretch through the pandemic. Downtown Cleveland Vice President of Economic Development Audrey Gurlach said it’s taken a lot of effort to get crowds to return downtown after such a challenging period.

“Because of the confluence of so many big events, I think we’re going to be putting our best face forward and downtown and all of our partner organizations and small businesses will be as well,” Gurlach said. “So, I think we’re riding such a great wave with that.”

She said that 90% of activity has returned to downtown.

City of Cleveland Chief of Integrated Development Jeff Epstein said he feels like downtown is fully rejuvenated thanks to everything that’s happening.

“The confluence of events here is a great win,” Epstein said. “Opening day, the MAC Tournament, the NCAA Women’s Final Four. Great mix of things that really help us continue our rebound from COVID in downtown Cleveland. We know that the more times visitors come to Cleveland, the more they spend and the more they like to come back. Because our research shows that when visitors come to Cleveland, they like what they see, and they want to come back, and they tell their friends.”

Fans are ready to ride the wave of excitement.

“It’s a great time to be down here and you get to see some exciting basketball as well2, so it’s great,” Justin Brownlow said.