[00:00:14] Speaker A: Hello.
[00:00:15] Speaker B: Welcome to the Roundhouse podcast with Paul Sullentrop of Wichita State University Strategic Communications. We appreciate your time. We've kind of an emergency podcast today with big news. Our guest today is Brad Pittman. Brad is Wichita State University senior associate athletic director, and for purpose of this conversation, he is tournament manager. Today's news that the opening round of the 2027 and 2028 NCAA Men's Basketball tournaments are coming to Interest Bank Arena. So Brad had a major role in that as he's had a major role in previous NCAA tournaments coming to Wichita. 12 teams will come to Wichita next March. They will play six games over two days. They will pair with Dayton as the opening round cites. You may be aware the NCAA tournament expanded from 68 to 76 teams earlier this spring. So now what used to be known as the first four opening rounds, Wichita and Dayton.
Brad, take us through the timeline of the application, the site, the visit, what all led up to today's announcement.
[00:01:19] Speaker C: Yeah, it's been a kind of a whirlwind of a spring, really. When bracket expansion happened, happened, I believe it was early to mid May. We were immediately in contact with the NCAA expressing our interest to be a host.
That was something that was important to us. This is something we've kind of kept our eyes on as time has gone on. So I think it was mid May, we got an email that they were opening up the bid portal and they were going to open it up for 28 days and it closed June 12th. So kind of a expedited time frame because they were asking for all the same information. And a few hurdles we had to cross was hotel availability because instead of eight teams, now you have 12 that are coming to Wichita. So that was step one to make sure that we even had hotels that could do this, which we were grateful that we did.
The next step was an arena availability, because typically, looking nine months out, having an arena that's available may not be always the case.
I know we worked with Interest bank arena to help move Dan or Disney on Ice around a little bit. So we were able to free up the dates for this year and have the dates for next year. So once we had those two dominoes out of the way, it was full steam ahead on all the information that we needed to submit, the normal forms of insurance and venue agreements, all that stuff that you have to put through. So once we got all that information in on the 12th and talked about as a, as a host committee, what are we willing to do above and beyond for the ncaa?
When we put that information in. We got notice that they wanted to do a site visit, and that came together pretty quickly. So June 30th, the NCAA was in Wichita. And part of their visit to us was to go look at the arena, even though they've been here before, wanted to go back and see kind of the spaces, make sure that they were comfortable with it, and then visit all of our hotels.
So we spent a good portion of that day driving around Wichita looking at hotels, looking at hotel rooms, making sure that they felt comfortable that Wichita could be a host and provide a great student athlete experience. So all that happened. And then this week, the NCAA basketball committee met June 7th through 9th. I believe today was the last day of those meetings. And part of their agenda was to discuss the various bids that were put in.
We don't know how many hosts bid on it. I do know there were several cities that were interested and put in, but part of their agenda this week was to discuss this and pick a site. And we're very thankful that we were picked to do this and interest bank
[00:03:56] Speaker B: arena would have hosted NCAA Men's Tournament 2018 and 2025 and then also the women's tournament. So they would be well acquainted with the, with the arena, with the area down there. So this has to be just a big accomplishment for Wichita State, for the city of Wichita. Put that in perspective. What does this mean?
[00:04:14] Speaker C: I think it's huge. You look at. Everybody always equates, you know, Dayton with the NCAA tournament because they host every year. You know, you're always talking about the first four.
At least in past years in Dayton, it was synonymous. And when the tournament started, everybody's eyeballs were on Dayton. Well, now Wichita gets a chance to have that. We're going to be a partner with Dayton in hosting the opening rounds. And, you know, for the first two days of the NCAA tournament, it's going to be us and them that everybody's going to pay attention to. So not only you're talking about the publicity, the notoriety, just the eyeballs on the city, you're also talking about the economic impact that comes through here as. As well. So that's huge for our community.
It once again shows that we're a basketball town. You know, people are excited to be here. I think that's one of the things we sold to the NCAA was we're a basketball community. People support our events. They come out and they watch and this can be another great place to be. So I think it's hopefully the start of something really great.
[00:05:17] Speaker B: And Wichita State fans would have gotten a close look at Dayton in 2016 when the Shockers played Vanderbilt there. I think there's a lot of similarities. Both of them are universities where basketball is a really big deal. Cities where basketball is a really big deal. And that will be a good. That'll be a good pairing both of those cities together.
Will the set up the area around the arena? I think that's such a big advantage for Wichita. Will that be very similar to what people would have experienced two years ago?
[00:05:46] Speaker C: We hope so. I think we're excited about the opportunity. I think the city has communicated they're willing to do the fan fest again in Navsker park, so that should be out there as well. And I'm sure there's going to be several local businesses that are going to set up shop around the arena and take advantage of all the foot traffic. So I think that's one of the really cool things about what we've done compared to other sites I've been to is we always have a lot of activation around the arena and a lot for people to do. And I would expect a similar setup and environment this time around.
[00:06:20] Speaker B: So you don't pull off big events like this without a lot of help. People working together the interest Bank Arena Visit Wichita, Sedgwick county and the city of Wichita all work with Wichita State. Describe how this coalition works together and why that's so important.
[00:06:36] Speaker C: I think it's important because, you know, one of us by ourselves, we're not going to make this happen. You have to have everybody together. You know, we're in an era.
As the NCAA looks at bids, they want to know how can you drive down costs? What are opportunities for you to increase the fan experience, the student athlete experience?
And you can't do that just by yourself. So you're looking at what can the city provide. You know, they're stepping up and they're helping us with the fan fest at NASCAR Park.
The county is stepping up with some things that they're assisting with the arena. Obviously you have to have a great arena to make this happen and visit. Wichita has the connections with the hotels and the businesses downtown to kind of get all that coalition together. So I think everybody has their specific area that they're really, really good in. Wichita State focuses a lot on inside the arena and basketball and running the event. That's what we do really well.
And then we help and assist with the other things the arena is really great at. They're the arena, they know what they're doing down there. They have A quality venue visit. Wichita is really good with, you know, bringing together the local businesses and the hotels. So it's getting all those people together. And I think that's what makes Wichita really special is you don't always see that everywhere. You don't see that partnership. You don't see all those entities that work well together and people that see the bigger picture of why this is important.
[00:07:57] Speaker B: So my understanding is a lot of competition. Kansas City and Omaha were interested. Do you have any idea how many other cities were fighting for this?
[00:08:06] Speaker C: I don't. I wish we did have that information because I'd love to know, but I've kind of the information I have is the same that everybody else has heard kind of anecdotally through the news.
[00:08:16] Speaker B: Tell people a little bit about the needs. How many hotels are you looking for? Are you using Eisenhower Airport and some of the, the smaller charter kind of airports? What, what all goes into this?
[00:08:27] Speaker C: Yeah. So this is going to be interesting because when you think about a first, you know, the opening rounds that are happening Selection Sunday is Sunday night. You're playing basketball. Less than 48 hours later, there will be teams and I don't know if it will happen this year as they talk to us on the site, there will be teams that are ready to go and fly out Sunday night to wherever they're going.
So there could be a team that comes to Wichita and be here within six hours of selection Sunday. So we have two really good FBOs out at Eisenhower and Signature and a Yingling that will handle all the charter flights. The teams, if they're not within driving distance, they'll charter in.
So it's important to make sure that that experience is seamless.
You know, we have people that are out there that manage and oversee, you know, are the flights on time, how many baggage handlers do they have? And when they leave town, how many TSA screeners are there to ensure that that experience is really, really good?
Hotel wise, you're looking, you have 12 teams.
They want full service hotels for every team.
So we're going to double up on a few of them. But you know, you're looking at, you know, nine or 10 different hotels across the city that are going to have teams in them in addition to the media and also the officials. So a ton of hotel rooms, a ton of just that infrastructure that goes on. And not only to mention buses because every team that flies in has to have a bus that picks them up. If they bring a band into Spirit Squad with them, that's another bus that that they're driving with. So that's a lot of infrastructure that has to be coordinated ahead of time because once it, once we find out the names, it's basically 72 hours of just straight go that we're working through.
[00:10:09] Speaker B: How much will geography play into which schools are assigned here and in Dayton?
[00:10:16] Speaker C: You know, that's a good question. My understanding is the depending on they want to be a little strategic about the region. So there's usually a west region.
So I would imagine the schools in the. That will end up in the west region bracket will probably play in Wichita and then go west.
So I think there will be some geography. I think that's one of the reasons they wanted, as they put this out, they were, they were preferring a central time zone, school and location. So I think that plays a big part because it is a challenge to get, you know, when you talk about a team on Selection Sunday out to a first or opening round and then off until their first second rounds. That's a lot of travel and a lot of logistics.
[00:10:57] Speaker B: And Wichita State would again experience that in 2016, going from Dayton to Providence. So this is a tight timeline compared to previous tournaments where you would have gotten, what, three or four years advance notice. Now you're looking at nine months to get this thing up and running.
Take us through that.
How do you handle that quick turnaround?
[00:11:18] Speaker C: That's a great question because we're already behind. They've already started the planning process for 27 sites, and I feel blessed and honored that they trust us to catch up. But I think really it's dusting off what we did a year and a half ago. We were fortunate to host this in 25, and for the most part, it's going to be a similar playbook. So you're going back to that, dusting that off, talking to the people that helped you out with that. And the big lift is going to be getting people on board in the key roles to help you with that.
So that's going to be one of the first things we do and working through that.
[00:11:53] Speaker B: Wichita State University and Wichita continues to be a host for the NCAA Tournament, started way back in 1956 on campus. Most recently 2018 and 2025 opening round games are coming here March 16th and 17th. That's the 12 lowest seated automatic qualifiers and the 12 lowest seated at large teams will be split between Wichita and Dayton. Brad Pittman, thank you for your time.
[00:12:18] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:12:34] Speaker D: Great insight as always. Thanks for listening to the Roundhouse podcast courtesy of Wichita State University Strategic Communications. We encourage you to rate, review and subscribe. Wherever you get your podcasts, you can always find more roundhouse
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[00:12:51] Speaker A: let him pass it up court. Then he gets picked off a long three by Pangos. No good. One second. It's over. It is over and Witchita State has beaten the number one team in the nation to go to the sweet 16.
Go crazy Witchita. I know you are.
