SPOKANE, Wash. — Basketball fans will be buzzing on sidewalks around the Spokane Arena when it plays host to the first and second rounds of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament in two weeks, bringing with them a boost to local businesses.
“We’re just ready for a packed house,” Kyle Gaber, supervisor and bar manager at Victory Burger, said. “The arena always brings us big, big events, so we’re going to be jam packed and ready for everyone.”
Gaber said that Victory Burger, located inside the Wonder Building right across the street from the arena, is no stranger to big crowds on game days and stocking up ahead of time.
“Definitely a lot of Shirley Temples, beer orders and stuff like that for the week, a lot of food prep too,” Gaber said. “We’ve got two different bars here, [us and] Uno Mas Taco Shop, so we’ve got a staff that’s ready for everything it feels like.”
“I think everyone is hearing the buzz, everyone’s excited,” said Visit Spokane‘s Kate Hudson. “A lot of prep goes into it, it’s years in the making.”
Hudson said they’re expecting the tournament to bring in 15,000 fans from out of town and $2.4 million to area businesses, which helps support the more than 17,000 tourism and hospitality jobs in Spokane County.
“It’s a great number, we love these events,” Hudson said. “It provides tax relief for every household in Spokane County, so tourism is a big business in Spokane, and sports tourism as well.”
Perhaps more impactful than that, though, is the opportunity to show off Spokane to a national audience–especially after the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the 2020 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, the last time Spokane was set to be a host site.
The Spokane Arena also hosted the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament’s West Regional Final in 2022, and will do the same in 2025.
“It’s priceless,” Hudson said. “We’re going to have a lot of people talking about Spokane, we’re going to have a lot of eyes on Spokane, a lot of beauty shots from Sokane–you can’t buy this kind of press.”
Kyle Gaber agrees.
“The arena and this re-gentrified area brings us so much more business than it did 20 years ago,” Gaber said. “I’ve grown up here my whole life, and there was no reason to really be down on this side of town unless you were going to the arena or the courthouse, so having all of these big things here is helping us all out.”
For more information on NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament games in Spokane, click here.
