Milk Maid
The madness is here, and it’s going to get wild. That’s right, the March Madness college basketball tournaments are here and so are all the brackets.
Chances are either you or someone close to you participates in some sort of March Madness bracket challenge. I personally have three different leagues that I have brackets in.
The brackets are really easy to fill out, they really only take a few minutes. It’s a lot of fun to compete against family, friends, co-workers and other basketball fans.
All of my brackets are online which is really slick because it makes it really easy to fill out from top to bottom. It automatically keeps track of your points too.
The best part about playing the March Madness bracket challenge is that you really don’t need to be an elite college basketball mind!
There are many great strategies to filling out brackets that don’t involve basketball knowledge. You can choose the teams you think will win based on their team mascots.
You can choose the winning teams based on the university names too. Gonzaga is a fun name, so is Lipscomb. Some strategies involve picking the teams based on their team colors, too.
This year, I think part of my strategy will involve who I would like to see in the Final Four, which is the final four teams left in the tournament. This year’s Final Four games will be held at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
To convert the football stadium into a basketball venue for 70,000 fans, it’s been a huge undertaking.
New curtains to block out the light from all the glass at the stadium was needed. There have been two other major installations: new seats and scoreboard.
The NCAA requires some 10,000 seats to be placed near the court, which will cost more than $2 million. And the NCAA’s giant scoreboard will be hung from the stadium’s center ridge truss.
The giant end zone video screens won’t be used when there is action on the court. A Star Tribune article cited how much this big event will cost compared to last year’s big game, and I can’t believe it!
“After reimbursements, the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority’s (MSFA) cost for the Final Four operations and curtains is estimated at $10 million compared to $627,000 out-of-pocket for the Super Bowl.”
The MSFA has been reimbursed $1.7 million by the Minnesota Final Four Host committee for the new black curtains, and will receive another $200,000 from the host committee for operations.
The MSFA is estimating $2 million in revenue from merchandise, food and beverage sales, including beer and wine.
Hopefully, the event will bring in many people and revenue for the State of Minnesota.
The two semifinal games will be played Saturday, April 6, with the big national title game on Monday, April 8. U.S. Bank Stadium will be open to fans on Friday, April 5, with many fun family friendly events on tap throughout the weekend.
Because these games will be played here in Minnesota, I’m going to be paying attention to the top contending teams.
Whether you are very involved with your brackets or just pick them at random, good luck with your bracket challenges!
I’ll be cheering on the Duke Blue Devils!