March Madness returns to Dunk

This year’s “March Madness at the Dunk” is projected to pump $3.5 million into Rhode Island – about the same as it did six years ago – but the success of such events is not always measured in dollars, Providence leaders say.

The event is “lucrative” for the city and has the potential to exceed the 2010 economic impact, said Martha Sheridan, president and CEO of the Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau. But the PWCVB says the payoff is also in the exposure the city gets when fans do come.

The Dunkin’ Donuts Center will be hosting eight teams competing in preliminary rounds of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship on March 17 and March 19. The teams will be announced on March 13.

“It’s our time to be on a national stage and we use it wisely,” said Kristen Adamo, the PWCVB’s vice president of marketing and communications.

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Promoting the tournament includes some activities that took place the last time the city hosted it, in 2010. They include a “Slam Dunk” partial WaterFire lighting on March 18 and beer gardens and other outdoor extensions of businesses like the tent Trinity Brewhouse set up in 2010, Adamo said. Crowds surged onto downtown streets between games six years ago.

“For the past month, colleges have been calling to reserve a spot to host alumni parties even though they don’t know if their teams are playing or not,” Trinity Manager Kim Allin said last week.

PWCVB is also targeting marketing to college alumni through Facebook and other means.

Economic-impact spending is measured based on hotels, NCAA expenses at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center, visitor spending on food inside and outside the Dunk, game parking, transportation and miscellaneous expenses. Ticket-sale revenue, which goes to the NCAA, is not considered part of the economic impact, Adamo said. The event is expected to be sold out.

The NCAA is “restrictive on what you can and cannot do” from a marketing perspective and has special rules for using its trademarks, noted James McCarvill, executive director of the R.I. Convention Center Authority. The PWCVB has held three information sessions for about 150 businesspeople in the area on that issue.

PWCVB doesn’t know if the Dunk, which seats 12,000, will be getting teams with strong fan bases, underdog status or high rankings, which all tend to draw more fans and boost local spending, added Adamo.

The positive effects of hosting the tournament are already being felt, McCarvill noted, as it has helped attract the U.S. Gymnastics Championships at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center and the Convention Center on June 10-12.

“Every time you show yourself capable and successful at handling high-profile events, then you open the door to being considered for more,” McCarvill said. “The value is exposure. It’s an intangible. It’s real.” •

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