St. Louis not picked to host Final Four
St. Louis Business Journal - by Kelsey Volkmann
St. Louis was passed over Wednesday as a host city for men’s basketball Final Four, losing to New Orleans, Atlanta, North Texas, Indianapolis and Houston for the years 2012-2016, the NCAA said.
The St. Louis Sports Commission had fought for St. Louis to host the event, which would have had a $100 million economic impact on the region, according to the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission.
“This is probably conservatively $120 million in spending for the region so it’s a major blow to St. Louis,” said Doug Elgin, commissioner of the Missouri Valley Conference. “But we will continue to be aggressive in pursuing events like this.”
This was the second time St. Louis was denied what Elgin calls the “big daddy” of sporting events since it hosted the games in 2005. The basketball committee didn’t pick the city in 2003 for the 2008-2011 years.
Elgin pointed to the revitalization of downtown since 2005 as a reason to hope that St. Louis will host the tournament in future years.
St. Louis will host a preliminary round of basketball, but not the most popular championship games, according to the NCAA.
“We are going to keep aggressively pursuing sporting events and marketing St. Louis as a destination,” said Marc Schreiber, a spokesman for the St. Louis Sports Commission.
NCAA officials plan to debrief St. Louis officials on why the city was left out.
“Obviously, we are disappointed about not being selected,” said Mike Kern, a spokesman for the Missouri Valley Conference. “We still feel very strong about the strength of the city for a future award. We have a strong arena, hotels and infrastructure. We won’t stop trying.”
kvolkmann@bizjournals.com
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