Excitement builds in businesses as they prepare for March Madness in Seattle

Eight teams, thousands of fans and millions of dollars will be coming to Seattle as the Emerald City plays host to the first and second rounds of the March Madness NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

Oregon, Colorado State, Arizona, Grand Canyon, Memphis, Maryland, Liberty and Akron are the universities picked to play at Climate Pledge Arena on Friday and Sunday.

“March Madness is just the best time of year. It’s my favorite sports competition in general,” Sam Jain said. “It’s really anyone’s game, you can be a one seed or a 16 seed and you never know what’s going to happen.”

Sam and his friend Nick Smyrnov watched the selections roll in at Atlas Sports & Spirits, perusing Ticketmaster to punch their own tickets to the game. The two have their eyes on the second-round doubleheader next Sunday.

“It’s what is motivating me to look for tickets for this game—the college atmosphere. I don’t think you can get it anywhere else,” Smyrnov said.

While Smyrnov and Jain are locals, though trying to get a group to pregame with them before the games next weekend, spending from the fans of teams coming into town has the potential to generate millions of dollars spent in Seattle during the weekend round of games. At the MarQueen Hotel, they watched their rooms fill up minutes after the selections were announced.

“We’re hoping to sell out almost all of our rooms and in just the last hour we booked seven rooms which is like quite quick,” Kennady Brantley, with the MarQueen Hotel in Lower Queen Anne.

Brantley says Climate Pledge events noticeably help their business. With a long weekend of events like this, it’s several days of good vibes.

“It’s just the best. The buzz in the air, the excitement, everyone is in a good mood it’s wonderful,” Brantley said.

In previous years, the Seattle Sports Commission reported as much as $6 million is spent by traveling fans when they are in town. Helping Seattle’s case, teams like Colorado State, Arizona, Grand Canyon and especially Oregon have a relatively short way to go.

“Oregon being here I expect it’s going to be pretty crazy, I’m looking forward to it,” said Marco Alvarado, owner of Atlas Sports Bar.

It’s Alvarado’s first time open during a March Madness tournament, though he feels like he had a preview in December when Climate Pledge hosted Kentucky and Gonzaga in an overtime thriller.

“We were a Kentucky bar for the night. We didn’t ask to be, but they didn’t give us a choice and it was great.” Alvarado said.