Looking to be NCAA ticket again

Albany had to wait 20 years, including a three-year delay because of COVID-19, to get the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament back.

With the first- and second-round games concluding on Sunday, how long will men’s March Madness take to return to MVP Arena? NCAA Division I men’s basketball committee member Keith Gill, who was in attendance, didn’t give a definitive answer but offered a very positive review.

“I think they certainly have put their best foot forward, but it’s really competitive and those bids go out and it’s kind of cyclical, so it’s kind of hard to handicap when the next time it will be here,” Gill, commissioner of the Sun Belt Conference, said Saturday. “But certainly there’s been nothing that’s happened during this time that would prevent it. It’s been really good. The facility has been good, the teams have had good experiences and so I think it’s really been a good event so far.”

The men’s tournament won’t be available again until at least 2027. The preliminary rounds — that is, all games played before the Final Four — are committed to sites through the 2026 tournament. The Final Four is booked through 2030.

MVP Arena general manager Bob Belber said he’s hopeful the men’s tournament will be back as soon as 2027 or 2028. The NCAA hands out bids in four-year cycles with the next round covering 2027 to 2030.

“We’ll bid on all of them,” Belber said. “I think we’ve got a better shot at getting it back sooner. My hope is we get it back in … three to five years, somewhere in there, rather than waiting anything longer than that. Certainly, don’t want to be anywhere near the number of years it was between 2003 and today.”

Belber said the NCAA bid specifications will come out in July and will be due by September or October. The NCAA will make its decisions next year. Belber said MVP Arena will bid for the first and second rounds, as well as the regionals, which includes the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight. Siena and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference are usually the hosting institutions in Albany.

Belber said Albany’s chances are better now because of $43 million in Albany County-funded improvements over the past several years that include an enclosed atrium with new elevators and escalators, new video boards and locker room renovations. He pointed to small touches such as phone chargers and hotel-style safes in every player’s locker.

“I think we have a good shot,” Belber said. “A lot of that has to do with the reinvestment in the building ... It’s something that I think is going to help us a great deal when the NCAA is looking for first-class facilities, they’re going to consider us a lot quicker now because we are a first-class facility.”

Belber said Albany could use one or two more full-service downtown hotels, though he’d heard no complaints from NCAA officials about the hotel situation.

MAAC commissioner Rich Ensor, who is retiring in May, wasn’t quite as optimistic as Belber. He pointed to the number of competing venues in the East and MVP Arena’s capacity of about 14,000 this weekend. He estimated it could be five to 15 years before the men’s tournament returns.

“You have to look at the number of arenas in the region, which is pretty broad,” he said. “You’re in a lot of competition. You’ve got bigger venues, so even when we host in Buffalo, they’re at 19,000, we’re at 14,000. ... And then you have the competition of venues that are supported by institutions in the region that may have influence with the selection committee. I think in favor of Albany is the fact they don’t have a lot of (date) conflicts with pro sports and they get in (the arena) relatively easy.”

Ensor also said Albany would be helped by more full-service hotels.

The Division I women’s regional, expanded to eight teams, comes to Albany next year from March 29 to April 1. Ensor said Albany’s positive history hosting the women’s tournament could help get the men back.

This weekend was MVP Arena’s third time hosting the Division I men’s tournament. It held first- and second-round games in 1995, followed by the East Regional in 2003.

The tournament was supposed to return with first- and second-round games in 2020, but the COVID pandemic canceled the event and the NCAA reawarded it to Albany for this year.

Gill said he couldn’t find any glitches this weekend, despite a snowstorm that hit Albany with almost a foot of snow on Monday and Tuesday.

“The city did a good job of getting the streets cleared, the sidewalks cleared and the sun came out, and so everything’s really been nice,” Gill said. “Community’s been great. We’ve had great crowds and some wonderful basketball.”

With UConn a large attraction featuring Andre Jackson Jr. of Amsterdam, the four Friday games drew 14,010 for the afternoon session and 13,989 for the evening session. Belber said he considers that a sellout with the arena’s capacity of 14,118 because there were upper-level single seats that just didn’t sell because fans were looking for multiple tickets.