The madness that is March will be making its way to Pittsburgh this week, with first- and second-round NCAA tournament games taking place at PPG Paints Arena on Friday and Sunday.
If you’re a fan of any of the participating teams – Villanova, Illinois, Houston, Ohio State, Loyola Chicago, UAB, Chattanooga and Delaware – or are simply looking to experience one of the more unique events in American sports, here’s some information you need to know.
Tickets
The NCAA and PPG Paints Arena websites direct ticket-buyers to TicketMaster, where there are four different options for fans in Pittsburgh.
For the first-round games on Friday, fans can purchase tickets for the first session, which is the first two games of the day, or the second session, which includes the final two games of the day. The first session features No. 7 seed Ohio State against No. 10 seed Loyola Chicago at 12:15 p.m. and No. 2 seed Villanova against No. 15 seed Delaware at 2:45 p.m. The second session has No. 4 seed Illinois against No. 13 seed Chattanooga at 6:50 p.m. and No. 5 seed Houston against No. 12 seed UAB at 9:20 p.m.
The pair of second-round games on Sunday is available as a single session, with tip-off times yet to be announced. Should someone be interested in attending every first- and second-round game – six contests across the two days – all-session passes are being sold, as well.
Tickets for two for Friday’s first session begin at $40 apiece. For the second session that day, they begin at $60. Tickets for the single Sunday session begin at $90. As of Sunday afternoon, only a handful of all-session seats were available. Those tickets begin at $210.
Tickets for all sessions are also available on third-party platforms – SeatGeek, StubHub and Vivid Seats, among others.
Parking
PPG Paints Arena has five lots to its north, many of which were on the site of the old Civic Arena. For Penguins games, it costs $30 to park in most of the lots, except in the Jim Shorkey Ram melody tent lot, which is $25. Parking rates for non-Penguins events may vary. For events other than Penguins games, the Jim Shorkey Ram parking garage inside the arena is open for $40.
There are several garages within easy walking distance of the arena – the Chatham Center garage on Washington Place, the Duquesne University garage on Forbes Avenue, the BNY Mellon Center garage on Grant Street, the Manor Complex garage on Forbes Avenue and the U.S. Steel Building garage on Grant Street.
There’s ample street parking, as well, though hourly rates downtown can be pricey. That’s only an issue on Friday, as street parking is free on Sundays.
Public transportation
The 61A, 61B, 61C, 61D, 71A, 71C, 71D and 500 bus lines all have inbound stops on Fifth Avenue near the arena and outbound stops a block away on Forbes Avenue. On Centre Avenue to the arena’s north, there are inbound and outbound stops for the 81, 81B and 83 bus routes.
Additionally, the Steel Plaza light rail station is a 0.3-mile walk from the arena.
Craig Meyer: cmeyer@post-gazette.com and Twitter @CraigMeyerPG
First Published: March 14, 2022, 1:30 a.m.
Updated: March 14, 2022, 1:17 p.m.
