Basketball madness in the Capital Region

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- Madness is in the air as the NCAA and their fans swarm the Capital Region this weekend.  This year the women's NCAA basketball tournament is bringing in eight teams, some of them coming from the biggest programs in the nation and one record-breaking player.

“I think the popularity of women's basketball now is as great if not better than it has ever been,” said Bob Belber, General Manager MVP.

“Let's just talk about the fact that we have women that are getting more attention than men for basketball and I didn't feel the same hype for men's basketball as I am for the women's basketball,” said McGeary’s Irish Pub Owner Tess Collins.

In 2023 the first and second rounds of the men’s tournament were played in Albany. “Last year the eight teams stayed at seven different hotels within the region producing $5.6 million in event impact for the region,” said Director of Sales, Discover Albany, Jay Cloutier.

Many of those eight teams were from small schools. This year, the Capital Region will see the best of the best. “Albany, this year, is expecting $8.6 million in event impact or visitor spending,” said Cloutier.

The newly finished Lark Street Project and the businesses there are ready to show off their new assets.  “The businesses down here have had a long winter. Winter traditionally being slow, so the timing is right that the people are going to be able to be outside and support what's going on,” said Patrick Noonan, owner of El Loco Mexican Café.

Tess Collins owner of McGeary’s Irish Pub says Albany has plenty of room for all of the fans. “I want things to go well, and I just want people to have parking I just want people to know there are a lot of parking garages downtown,” said Collins.

She says they are prepared. “I have triple the amount of people on and we have four times the amount of food that we normally would have coming through. So, we don't even know how to prepare we're going to be that busy,” said Collins.

And because of the popularity of the teams and Caitlin Clark, Bob Belber general manager of MVP Arena says the impact will be felt far beyond downtown Albany.

He expects hotels and businesses sixty miles away will score. But Belber does have some advice. “My recommendation would be no matter what day you come early don't come last minute think you're going to be able to walk right in because you got 14,000 people coming through the building. So, I'd recommend that you get here an hour and a half to two hours early,” said Belber.