- 2 days ago
Vice President of Sports Development at Visit Wichita Josh Howell drops in to talk Wichita hosting March Madness games.
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00:00As you can see, the banners behind him, if you're watching on our video streams of getting events like this
00:06into Wichita, perhaps the world's worst fantasy football player, Josh Howell, welcome in to Sports Daily.
00:13How are you?
00:14I'm doing great.
00:15I'm doing great.
00:16Thanks for having me, guys.
00:17And I'd like to challenge you on that last statement there, Jacob, but that's probably for another day.
00:23I don't listen.
00:23I just read what's in front of me.
00:25I think the question that we all need to be asking, Josh Howell, is if the Arizona Wildcats find themselves
00:30in Wichita in a play-in game, is he mad that Arizona is in a play-in game or excited
00:35that they're in Wichita?
00:36I'm usually mad at that point.
00:38I think, correct me if I'm, wasn't it a play-in game that Arizona played Wichita State or was that
00:43after Wichita State had already, I think, remember Wichita State played Arizona several years ago?
00:48That was torture for me because.
00:51I don't think that was the, I don't think that was a play-in.
00:53I think that might have been the year that Wichita State won the play-in and got to play Arizona.
00:59Oh, yeah, that was, that was torture for me.
01:01But, yeah, I think if Arizona is in the play-in game, I'll be excited, especially if they come to
01:07Wichita.
01:07But I don't think that would be the season that Arizona is hoping for.
01:11So we'll see.
01:11So you guys get 27 and 28.
01:14Congratulations.
01:16You know, the tournament expands.
01:18Wichita gets these two years.
01:21That's a big deal for Wichita, regardless of anything else, right?
01:25The tournament was not coming to Wichita in 27 and 28.
01:28We already knew that.
01:29So now it is for two years coming to Wichita in this newly expanded format that we're all sort of
01:36going to wait and see how much we like it.
01:38But either way, it's a, it's a, it's going to put Wichita front and center and on the map.
01:44Yeah, that's absolutely right.
01:45I think it was maybe two or three years ago when they announced the, the winners of the last bid
01:50cycle, which went through 28.
01:52So once we didn't hear our name called there, we were kind of told because we were at, you know,
01:57we hosted in 25.
01:59That was the tail end of the previous bid cycle.
02:02And they said it was more a timing issue.
02:03So we had our site set then on the next bid cycle, which would be 29, 30, and 31.
02:09And then you start to hear rumbling of tournament expansion.
02:12And, you know, even though they officially announced this, what, a month or two ago, we had already been hearing
02:20rumblings that this is more than likely going to happen.
02:23And we had already had those relationships with folks in the NCAA.
02:29Of course, Brad and his team at Wichita State, they have such a great reputation with, with everyone at the
02:35NCAA as well.
02:36So we continued to meet with them.
02:38We let them know ahead of time, like, hey, if this is something that ends up happening, Wichita is definitely
02:44interested.
02:44So we were kind of already on their mind, I think, before they even had, you know, announced that this
02:50was happening.
02:51We already knew, hey, this is going to, if it happens, it's probably going to happen.
02:55It's going to happen quickly.
02:56So let's be ready to roll.
02:57And so when they announced it, we kind of assembled our organizing committee with our team at Visit Wichita.
03:04Of course, Brad taking the lead at Wichita State.
03:07Can't say enough about the job he does in leading this whole ship.
03:10And then AJ and his team at Interest Bank Arena with support from city and county.
03:16But, yeah, the fact that this was not on anyone's radar, you know, Wichita was not going to be hosting
03:21in 27 and 28.
03:23Now we are.
03:24We've heard that they want this to be, they want this site to kind of be like a Dayton.
03:29They don't necessarily want to have to bid it out all the time.
03:32And so, yes, it's 27 and 28.
03:35We've let them know we would love for Wichita to be another Dayton.
03:39And then every year, March Madness comes to Wichita.
03:42But, yes, for now, it's 27 and 28 with the goal being let's see if we can keep this thing
03:47here as long as we can.
03:48Yeah.
03:48So more on that in a second.
03:49And it sounds like once this was announced that the field was expanding, the NCAA kind of had like a
03:56mad dash to figure it out.
03:58And I think that's what made Wichita so appealing is that a lot of these cities, as you know and
04:03as we know,
04:04is that you have to take a couple of years to get your bid ready and do all these things.
04:08Is that what made Wichita so attractive is, one, the history that they've had with March Madness.
04:12But, two, is saying that we'll take you next month.
04:15I don't care.
04:16Come if we want to come.
04:18Yeah, I think so.
04:19So, you know, you mentioned the history in 2018, I think, kind of opened their eyes like, wow,
04:23Wichita can really can really do something like this and and do it big.
04:27And then the women's tournament in 22.
04:29And then, of course, March Madness again and in 25 just continue to to deliver and the fan fest that
04:35pop up all over the place around the arena.
04:38The ticket sales, of course, is a big part of it.
04:42But, yeah, you know, that's something that not every city, I'm sure, had all the hotel inventory.
04:47You're talking less than a year out.
04:49You know, a lot of cities may already have conferences or conventions booked up at different hotels and arena availability.
04:56That's a huge one, too.
04:57A lot of arenas have tenants.
04:58And and we just happened to to kind of get get lucky with availability at the arenas.
05:04All of our full service hotels were able to kind of work with us and move things around because now
05:09you're talking 12 teams.
05:10Right. So you have to have when we host in the past, you're talking hotels for eight teams.
05:14Now you have to have hotels for 12 teams, plus the NCAA staff and media hotels and things like that.
05:21And so all that had to come together.
05:25Our hotels, our venues, AJ and the arena, you know, moving some things around, getting creative with with dates.
05:31You know, I think Disney on ice is coming either right before or right after and and his team willing
05:36to to work through the overnight hours to flip the arena to make it ready.
05:40When the NCAA needs it, a lot of things like that don't always happen in in other cities.
05:45And so, yes, the availability was a big thing.
05:48The past history is huge.
05:51They were already, you know, Wichita is already top of mind for the NCAA.
05:54And so I think knowing that it is a quick turnaround and, hey, what's a city that can deliver on
05:59such short notice?
06:00And I think Wichita was was the perfect choice for them.
06:03We're going to take a viewer question here, Josh, because it's one I think that jumps to the forefront.
06:08So if Wichita were to become permanent, does that take Thursday and Friday games?
06:14Does it take then a potential, you know, further into the tournament?
06:18Is that off the table if Wichita hosts these rounds?
06:23Typically the way that there's there's probably no written rule that says one way or the other.
06:27But typically the NCAA, if you look back at their history, they usually only select a city for one particular
06:35site in that year.
06:36So you normally won't see a Kansas City host in first and second rounds and then also a Sweet 16,
06:43Elite Eight regional.
06:44They typically try to spread it around to different cities.
06:47And so if this were to happen, our our thought is, yeah, we probably would not host those Thursday, Friday
06:55games.
06:56However, you look at on the other side.
06:59At best case scenario in the past, we were hosting every four or five years, which is in their rotation,
07:05which, of course, is great.
07:06And we were happy to to do that.
07:09This could be on every year thing.
07:12And you know what?
07:12And if it turns out that it's not and they want to move this thing around, then that still opens
07:17it up.
07:17And we would bid on jump back into.
07:19Yeah, we would we would bid on the first and second rounds.
07:21We would bid on opening rounds.
07:24And the way it works is, too, when you submit those bids, you can submit for multiple rounds and then
07:29let them decide kind of what makes the most sense.
07:32Of course, you know, they're going to do what they want to do, but we're going to keep our options
07:36open.
07:36But in a perfect world, in our eyes, it's like this is a an NCAA tournament every year in Wichita.
07:42If that's what comes to fruition in our eyes, it's like, how can you how can you top that?
07:48So so what is that conversation like?
07:50Take us into the sausage being made a little bit.
07:53What goes into the conversation of saying that having, you know, 12 bubble teams, is that better than having Houston
08:00and Gonzaga?
08:01And, you know, the KUs that we've had in the past.
08:03I imagine that's something that you guys really had to chew on of what is better for Wichita.
08:09Yeah, you know, I think it was something that that we all discussed and it really just came down to
08:14we think, you know, you've seen the success that Dayton has had.
08:18And on those Tuesday, Wednesday games, Dayton owns those two days.
08:24Right. I mean, when you're watching games, you're not competing with all these other cities and different sites.
08:28And all eyes are on Dayton.
08:30All eyes are on those games that are being played.
08:33And I think this is going to be no different.
08:35Now you've got Tuesday, Wednesday, three games each in Dayton, three games in Wichita.
08:40If they're flipping channels, it's between one of those two games.
08:43You don't have any other options.
08:45So I think that was really cool to know that all eyes are going to be on on Wichita on
08:51those two nights.
08:51And I think I think you were talking you guys were talking about it earlier.
08:55But a lot of those teams that, you know, make the play in games, if you want to call them
09:01that, a lot of them, there's usually one or two every year that gets hot and makes a run.
09:06Was it UCLA that made the final four, you know, several years back?
09:11A lot of them are big name teams, and it's really not a ton different than the first and second
09:17rounds.
09:18You might have one or two of those, of course, the higher seeds that you might not see here.
09:22But you're still going to get the big name teams.
09:25You're still going to get the smaller schools, automatic qualifiers, the 16 seeds and and things like that.
09:30And so, yeah, for us, it's this is just this is something that Wichita is just going to we hope
09:35that Wichita owns it kind of like Dayton has.
09:38And we're confident that they will and it kind of makes it our own.
09:41And regardless of what teams are announced on Sunday, we hope that locals and Wichitans get excited about this and
09:48buy tickets.
09:49And we know the fans are going to travel in with those teams.
09:52But for this to be a huge success like we want it to be and like we know it will
09:56be,
09:57this is something that the city and local basketball fans are going to have to rally behind.
10:01And and man, how cool would it be to know every year that when you look at that bracket,
10:06you're going to see Wichita on it, you know, at least for the next two years and hopefully moving forward.
10:11So businesses around Wichita, be prepared to give your folks off now for March Madness the entire week.
10:17You got to be ready to party on a Tuesday and Wednesday instead of a Thursday or Friday.
10:22I was just looking here. The Dayton Business Journal reported one hundred and twenty one million dollars of economic impact
10:29in twenty twenty five from the play in games.
10:32A total draw of fans of just over twenty five thousand.
10:37It it's reset its own record that it set in twenty twenty three.
10:42So if you hear, Josh, twenty five thousand people, one hundred and twenty million in economic impact, what how does
10:48that stack up?
10:49I imagine it's probably not quite as high as the other, but it's also not every four or five years.
10:54So do those numbers track with what you guys are finding?
10:59Do we have the numbers back on what we did in twenty twenty five?
11:02I don't I don't remember, but that that seems like that's pretty good.
11:06Yeah, that's a lot. That's a that's a the economic impact number is there's so many different ways you can
11:13measure economic impact.
11:15We did do a study in twenty five Wichita State Center for Economic Development and Research did a did economic
11:22impact study for us.
11:23And and seven million in total economic impact is what they projected from twenty twenty five.
11:30So that that date number seems a little a little skewed, a little high.
11:34But seven million is what we tracked from from twenty twenty five.
11:40And yeah, this this is obviously a different event.
11:43It's a it's a Tuesday, Wednesday, more teams, but they're here a little bit shorter time.
11:47So once we get a little bit closer, we'll we'll be able to crunch those numbers.
11:50And but yeah, I think it'll be it'll be similar.
11:53It'll be on par. Ironically, I think in twenty eighteen when we ran the numbers,
12:01there were there were actually a little bit less people downtown total in twenty twenty five than there were in
12:09twenty eighteen.
12:10But there were more visitors in town in twenty five, twenty eighteen, probably the KU effect.
12:16So having KU certainly, you know, brings out more of the more of the the Kansas fans.
12:22But in twenty twenty five. Yeah.
12:25Like I said, in twenty five, there were actually more visitors from outside of Wichita that made it downtown than
12:30in twenty eighteen.
12:32So it's it's always interesting when you host these events and you get to get to crunch those numbers.
12:36But regardless, you saw a sold out interest bank arena in twenty eighteen with KU in twenty twenty five without
12:44KU.
12:45Basketball fans are are are hungry here in Wichita and and without, you know, with the locals, but also with
12:51the folks traveling in, I think I think you're going to see another packed interest bank arena next year.
12:58And yeah, we're excited for for this new format and and what we can do with it.
13:02So that brings us to, you know, if KU found themselves in the play in games, there might be people
13:08that would bring pitchforks to Wichita, probably those fans.
13:11But it's not that far off to think that, you know, K-State, I believe, in twenty twenty four was
13:18like a first four out.
13:19They would fit the category. They could come to Wichita.
13:21And as we were talking about in that first segment, is that based on what that release says, is that
13:26it seems like the doors open that Wichita State could play in Wichita as well.
13:30That would be your local draw. And I know that Wichita State fans at least would go crazy to have
13:35them in a dress bank arena.
13:37Yeah, I mean, if you go back and look at look at some of those teams that have played in
13:41those games that have played in Dayton,
13:43there's some there's some pretty big names, some pretty big schools that have made the trip and have played in
13:48those games.
13:49And so I'm not too worried about the caliber and the quality of teams.
13:54And yeah, I think everyone kind of like you guys were like, is that accurate?
13:57Is that you know, they kind of like you said, they put that towards the bottom of the release.
14:00And I've been texting with Brad and like, is this is this accurate?
14:04And he's like, from what we understand, yes, I think I think we'd be able to play.
14:08So I think everyone's kind of trying to like figure it out and make sure, like, is this actually what
14:13this means?
14:13Like Wichita could play. So I don't want to be the one that you're quoting that says absolutely Wichita is
14:20playing here.
14:20But from what we understand, that is kind of that's what it sounds like to us as well.
14:25So we're trying to get some clarity on that. But that would be obviously something you can't bank on.
14:30But how cool would that be to to see Wichita State right here?
14:34And oh, man, Dayton would be in the same boat, right?
14:36Dayton's kind of in that same realm.
14:38But and then you wonder later on, like Spokane's a consistent host site.
14:43Can Gonzaga play in Spokane, for instance?
14:46I mean, I suppose that they could.
14:49Yeah, I think that's something that hopefully in the next couple of days,
14:52I would think that's going to start to come to light because that was like you said,
14:56that was kind of thrown in there. And and the good thing is people were talking about Wichita.
14:59And that was kind of more the the footnote.
15:02But I think once people start digging in, they're going to start asking those questions.
15:05I'm sure that'll that'll come to light here shortly.
15:07But that's the way that it read. And that's that's kind of our understanding.
15:11So we'll hopefully get more clarity on that soon. But that would be awesome.
15:15So something you said one more, Jacob.
15:17Well, one thing you said earlier, Josh, is that, you know, you guys want to become, you know, the other
15:21Dayton.
15:22You want to have this every single year. It sounds like that this was a competitive one to get this
15:26bid.
15:27I know that Albuquerque was one people talked about if they wanted to go west.
15:31You know, do you feel like these next two years, is that kind of like the prove it?
15:36And if it goes well, you think you'd have a good chance to go forward?
15:39Do you think it would be the NCAA saying, you know, we want to at least see what's going on
15:43over there?
15:43Or how do you view that?
15:45Yeah, I think it was such a quick turnaround that they're like, hey, look, we got to get 27 and
15:4928 going.
15:50And then they're going to keep the others in line with their normal bid cycle, 29, 30 and 31.
15:54So that kind of made the most sense.
15:57So that way everyone can open it up.
15:59And technically, if you go look on the NCAA's bidding website, I don't know, you guys are probably not digging
16:07around on NCAA bidding websites like we are.
16:09But every four years or every three years, whenever the bid cycle opens up, the previous first four was always
16:16up for bid.
16:17So any city could have gone in and maybe some have, but it was kind of an unwritten rule that
16:22they're going to Dayton, like it's in Dayton.
16:26And so technically, even that one has been out for bid over the last couple of bid cycles.
16:32But, yeah, they haven't come out and said it.
16:33But I think that makes a lot of sense.
16:35It's like, hey, we got to get caught up.
16:37We need a site for the next two years to catch us up to the next bid cycle.
16:41So let's get that out there and see which city can come and and hopefully host it for both years
16:46because it was also open.
16:46I mean, you could have bid on 27 or 28.
16:48I think some cities we heard maybe were available for one year, but maybe not the next.
16:54And so that was another, I think, reason that that helped us stand out.
16:56They want to have a consistency there.
16:59But, yeah, it very well could be like, hey, let's see how this goes.
17:03And if Wichita knocks it out of the park and can can be that next Dayton, then maybe it's something
17:08they'll they'll look at just kind of rolling over and keeping us in the mix.
17:12And so we're going to do everything we can to continue giving that great experience.
17:17And again, I can't mention Brad and his team enough because he really does keep this thing rolling.
17:22He's a great leader.
17:23And so we're super excited.
17:25And, yeah, that's our hope.
17:27But that's kind of how we see it.
17:29Josh Howell, Vice President of Sports Development at Visit Wichita.
17:33Everybody involved.
17:34Tip of the cap.
17:35Nice job.
17:36We've got NCAA tournament games in Wichita.
17:39We appreciate it.
17:40And we'll be talking again, I'm sure, in the next few months as March is going to come quick.
17:45It'll be here fast.
17:46Yeah, I appreciate you guys.
17:47We've got to get to work now.
17:48There goes Josh Howell.
17:50We appreciate it.
17:50We're going to.
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