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'First Four' event expands beyond UD Arena

Festival in Oregon District aims to build on excitement for tourney.

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By Matt Velazquez, Staff Writer Updated 10:52 PM Friday, February 24, 2012

DAYTON — The NCAA’s First Four will no longer be limited to the games at UD Arena. This year, the event will reach into downtown with the first NCAA First Four Festival.

“The objective is to not only put on the event for those that are sitting in the stadium or watching on TV,” said Greg Shaheen, interim executive VP for Championships and Alliances at the NCAA. “We want those who are in the community, who may or may not have a ticket, to be able to be a part of the event,” he said at a press conference at the University of Dayton on Friday. After months of planning and cultivating resources, the First Four Dayton Local Organizing Committee thinks that it has created a unique experience that will serve two main purposes. The festival aims to build on the excitement surrounding the NCAA men’s basketball tournament and help the city cement itself as the home of the First Four for years.

“What we’re hoping happens is the community can do such a great job with this that it gets attention from the NCAA and the national media that’s here,” said J.P. Nauseef, committee chairman.

“Then people will see that and there’s energy built around it, so next year, people will say, ‘Hey, I’ve got to go to that kickoff party because it looked like it was a lot of fun.’ Then we create momentum out of that.”

The festival, which was adopted as an official NCAA event about six weeks ago, will be a street party in the Oregon District on March 11, the day the brackets for the men’s NCAA tournament are announced and two days before the First Four games begin at UD Arena.

The event will include food, drinks, games for the family, an Air Force experience zone, live music, children’s activities and TVs to see who’s selected to play in the tournament.

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