March Madness Expected To Have $10M Impact On Tulsa

Tulsa is going dancing again after winning a bid to host two rounds of the NCAA Basketball Tournament in 2017.

For the second time, the BOK Center is hosting the first- and second-rounds of the Midwest Region playoffs, and preparations at the BOK Center are already underway.

The Tulsa Sports Commission has been working behind the scenes, trying to be a host site again for the NCAA Basketball Tournament. They said they put a bid in and won against several cities in our area.

11/17/2014 Related Story: Tulsa To Host NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Games In 2017

"This was our chance and we had to put our best foot forward and try to go ahead and get one of the events for 2017 or 2018," said Vincent Trinidad with the Tulsa Sports Commission.

College basketball fans from across the region will be packing the BOK Center again like they did in 2011.

The sports commission expects more than $10 million in economic impact once tournament play begins in three years.

"We've been working on this for about a year now with TU and the BOK Center, which is great for us. So today was a great feeling of excitement to go and hear that Tulsa was announced publicly and nationally, which is really great for us as a community," Trinidad said.

He believes one of the selling points for Tulsa was the redeveloped downtown areas, including the Brady and Blue Dome districts.

"It's one of the constant highlights. What's great about our downtown area is that it's organic, it's live, it's not canned and for us it's a great, great, selling point for us a destination," Trinidad said.

The BOK Center is already preparing for the arena to be packed with 19,000 screaming fans.

"There will be lots of conference calls and site visits, and it's a pretty seamless process because the NCAA obviously does this every single year, but it will be very involved and our staff, I'm sure, will be getting at it very soon," said Sarah Haertl with the BOK Center.

“We're thankful to everyone involved and just can't wait to get the event here," Haertl said.

The Tulsa Sports Commission thanked the many corporate donors who helped win the bid.

Tickets in 2011 were going for $237, but there are still a couple of years before new prices are announced.