Pittsburgh is a pro sports city, and that shows no signs of changing. But lately the “City of Champions” has also begun to look a little like a destination for college athletics.
Last year, the NCAA awarded Pittsburgh 22 preliminary and championship events between 2018 and 2022, the most hosted by any city in the four-year bid cycle. The first of those events took place this month, starting with the Division III women’s volleyball finals and Division II cross country regionals in mid-November, and continuing this week with six Division II championships.
As a bonus — not part of the original bid — Pitt was selected to host the first two rounds of the NCAA women’s volleyball tournament this weekend at Petersen Events Center. The 12th-seeded Panthers captured an ACC championship this fall and will face Iona on Friday night.
Jennifer Hawkins, executive director of SportsPittsburgh, the sports development division of tourism group VisitPittsburgh, said the bid was an all-out blitz to “let people know that we are more than a pro sports city.” If smaller events run smoothly in Pittsburgh, it stands to reason that the NCAA may entrust the city with larger Division I championships down the line.
“I think it certainly sets the stage for that,” Hawkins said recently. “God willing, we’ll have proved ourselves capable — and I’m certain that we will. … The NCAA doesn’t want a challenge every time they host an event. If you ask me, they’ll want to go to trusted partners that they know will be able to accomplish events. We know we have the capacity for the next level.”
PPG Paints Arena already is a draw for major NCAA events. The Frozen Four was held there in 2013 and will return in 2021. The arena has hosted the first and second rounds of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament three times — 2012, 2015 and 2018 — and will again in 2022.
Hawkins felt Pittsburgh, given all of its college programs and athletic venues, could do more.
When SportsPittsburgh formally coalesced in 2016, one city the group studied in advance of the NCAA bid was Columbus, Ohio. Hawkins saw similarities. In the previous four-year cycle — the first time the NCAA sought championships bids all at once — Columbus submitted bids for 30 events and was awarded nine. Last year, Columbus entered 47 bids and won 12.
The Greater Columbus Sports Commission claims Columbus has hosted 380 events and generated over $400 million in visitor spending since 2002, according to the Columbus Dispatch.
"We knew [Columbus] was a successful model,” Hawkins said, “and we could take it to the next level by bringing in our pro teams and facilities.”
Hawkins’ group created a comprehensive package that would include Division I, II and III events. They pinpointed which schools and venues could potentially host, then reached out to them to gauge interest. Ultimately, SportsPittsburgh put together a bid committee which included representatives from nine host institutions, two athletic conferences and nine sports facilities.
The committee submitted 70 bids and secured 22 events.
“We wanted to spread the love throughout the region,” Hawkins said. “The competition was getting stronger and stronger from other communities with what they were putting together. We had to make it more than just, ‘We can give you more money to host your event.’”
Mayor Bill Peduto said his office had worked with VisitPittsburgh for several years “to lure the NCAA to Pittsburgh.”
“This is a sports town,” Peduto said. “If you look at what Indianapolis was able to do about a decade ago, in bringing all those championships to Indianapolis, there is no reason we should be doing anything less.”
Since Lucas Oil Stadium opened in 2008, Indianapolis has hosted Super Bowl XLVI, two men’s Final Fours, two women’s Final Fours, seven Big Ten football championship games and seven Big Ten men’s basketball tournaments. The Big Ten women’s basketball tournament has taken place in Indianapolis all but three years since 1995. Indianapolis is the annual backup site for the Final Four, and it will host the event again in 2021. Indianapolis also regularly hosts the NCAA swimming and diving championships and the NFL scouting combine.
Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said NCAA events coming to Pittsburgh also is a boost for the local economy. Following the Division II cross country and Division III women’s volleyball events earlier this month, SportsPittsburgh reported direct spending — the amount spent by out-of-town guests on lodging, retail, recreation, food and transport — of $520,000.
Naturally, the bigger the event, the bigger the number. The NCAA men’s basketball tournament games at PPG Paints Arena this spring were estimated to bring $8.4 million in direct spending.
“When you think of all the tourism aspects that sports brings,” Fitzgerald said, “they’re going to fill a lot of hotel rooms, people are going to buy a lot of meals, and they're going to experience Pittsburgh in a way that maybe will bring them back.”
Part of the bet placed by the bid committee when it submitted 70 bids was that Pittsburghers would fill seats at Division II and III events even if no local teams are involved. Whether that’s accurate remains to be seen. SportsPittsburgh held two news conferences this month to ask for local support, and it has reached out to youth leagues and high school teams about attending.
For the Division III women’s volleyball final between Calvin and Emory on Nov. 17 — a three-set win for Emory — there was an attendance of 648 at 4,390-seat Palumbo Center.
“We want these athletes to play in front of a crowd,” Hawkins said. “This could be their last time ever playing in these events. It could be the culmination of their collegiate careers and really their total athletic careers. We want people to be there to celebrate with them, maybe even cry a few times for people who get eliminated. And we want the event to come back.”
Kate Giammarise contributed reporting. Stephen J. Nesbitt: snesbitt@post-gazette.com and Twitter @stephenjnesbitt.
First Published: November 29, 2018, 1:00 p.m.
