Nearly 50,000 people came to Wichita for the NCAA tournament
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — The NCAA has come and gone for Wichita. From Wednesday to Saturday, Intrust Bank Arena saw around 46,000 people come in and out of the tournament, with even more on the streets outside.
Such a big event comes with days of cleanup and things are moving swiftly. Event Elements, who helped setup and maintain many of the tents and party venues, estimate they’ll be done by Tuesday. That gives them and the arena plenty of time to reflect on how Wichita handled the national stage.
“I mean any time you can host an NCAA basketball event … is pretty amazing,” Regional Manager for ASF Global and Intrust bank Arena AJ Boleski said. “Obviously [it was] a fast-paced week for us, but a fun one. And it was really great to see it all come together in the end.”
According to Boleski, the tournament went smoothly, with only a few minor hitches. He and his team intend to use the experience they’ve gained to correct any issues.
“Parking and the transportation, we’ll get together with them, law enforcement and make some notes so we remember how to do it next time,” he said.
The streets surrounding the arena are marked with remnants from nearly a week’s worth of parties.
“Saturday, yesterday was really good. There was a lot of people out, just from the 4 teams that remained,” Chris Jewell with Event Elements said. “We’ve torn up our stage, [we’re] fixing to take down the trucks, the bike rack is piled up and we’re fixing to move on.”
With their new lessons and ideas for how to handle the next big event, they hope to stay on the NCAA’s radar.
“I had a lot of people that said thank you for Wichita hosting the NCAA so hopefully they’ll come back again soon,” Jewell said.
For Intrust Bank Arena and its staff, the week following the tournament is a transitionary week. They’re working on turning the NCAA-issued basketball court into an ice rink for the Wichita Thunder game on Friday.
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