We caught up with Doug Hall of the local Final Four organizing committee at Ellington Airport, as he watched a plane carrying the champion Villanova Wildcats depart for home.
An estimated 75,000 people were in town for the games. And Hall says he’s getting lots of compliments from both the teams and their fans.
“The thing I heard most was that the vibe and the energy in downtown Houston was just awesome,” adds Hall. “You know, we wanted to make it feel like a big event in our city and Houstonians responded with all the community events.”
The NCAA Final Four weekend also provided opportunities for local residents to get involved, like a fanfest at the George R. Brown Convention Center and concerts at Discovery Green.
But they had to turn away people at one of those concerts because the crowds were just too big.
A.J. Mistretta is with the Greater Houston Convention & Visitors Bureau. He says that’s one of the issues they’re looking at for the next big event, which is expected to bring even more people downtown.
“A similar footprint in terms of the visitor experience in and around downtown and Discovery Green, the George R. Brown, is what we’re looking at for Super Bowl,” says Mistretta. “And so there definitely could be some things that we can learn from Final Four.”
It’s estimated the Final Four pumped about $150 million in direct spending into Houston’s economy.