BOISE, Idaho — The economic boom of March Madness won’t be felt in Boise as planned this year.
ExtraMile Arena on the campus of Boise State University was slated to be a host site for the First Round of this year's NCAA Tournament for the 10th time since 1983.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic derailed those plans in the fall when the NCAA decided to host the entire tournament in Indiana.
For some perspective, when games were hosted in 2018, the Boise Convention and Visitor's Bureau estimated the tournament brought in $15 million to the local community.
“NCAA, those are the things that really have an impact for a significant period of time,” Bardenay Owner Kevin Settles said. “Numbers can that much higher than normal.”
For Settles, business isn't usually affected by games on TV like the Super Bowl. However, when the game is in town it can have a positive impact on business.
“We love these kinds of events when they bring people into town, especially for the sporting events,” he said.
In 2018, restaurants and bars were packed. Fans of college basketball and specific teams packed sports bars and restaurants to soak in all of the games. The event also brought in tens of thousands of people from out of town.
“It's just one more piece that is missing,” Settles said.
This year, ExtraMile Arena sits empty as the tournament gets underway.
Instead of hosting games on Thursday and Saturday, those games will instead be played in Indiana. The NCAA decided it would be easier to conduct the tournament in a single city instead of cities around the country.
“Another gigantic hit, for me personally, but also this part of town,” said Brad Selvig, owner of The End Zone bar. “We rely on the university and the events that happen there.”
Selvig said the opening weekend of March Madness in 2018 was probably the busiest weekend he's ever had in his 21 years.
“That Thursday was as busiest as any BSU football game they’ve had except for a couple,” he said.
It's just one more thing they didn't have this year which is leading to further losses of revenue. Instead, Selvig is focusing on drawing people in to watch the games on TV.
“There is a chance with the nice weather and people wanting to get out,” he said. “We have TVs outside and we’re doing what we can to get people to come watch them but it pales in comparison.”
The Riverside Hotel is also feeling the pinch. One manager told KTVB they estimate they're losing about $50,000 of potential revenue this weekend.
BCVB estimated in 2018 that roughly 30,000 people came to town for the tournament.
Settles says his restaurant has to just be thankful for where they're at after a difficult 2020, instead of focusing on what he's missing out on.
“It is what it is. For us, we're kind of like we're just so happy to be in the state we're in today,” he said. “We're healthy and able to pay our bills and able to keep people employed.”
The Big Sky Tournament which was just held in Boise last weekend did boost business a bit.
“We had some good days out of it, and it had a very noticeable impact on our business,” Settles said.
KTVB reached out to the BCVB and Boise State since they would have been the host. No one was available to talk for this story.
At this point, it's not clear if Boise State's host year will carry over to next season or if they'll have to wait for the NCAA to cycle back to them.
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