Cleveland is at the center of the sports world, at least for this weekend.
The NCAA Women’s Division 1 basketball tournament has been arguably the most popular event in sports in 2024, and Cleveland is hosting the tournament’s Final Four – semi-final games and championship game – which has Downtown Cleveland crowded with fans from around the country.
“It’s been awesome. We got to see a lot of cool places, eat a lot of good food,” said Raven Dest, a piccolo player in the University of Connecticut pep band.
According to Disney, the parent company to ESPN, the women’s tournament games are averaging 1.5 million viewers per game – a 127% increase from last year. A game in the last round reached 12.3 ESPN viewers, the most for a basketball game on the network since a 2018 NBA game.
“There’s just going to be a buzz. You have tens of thousands of fans coming in from out of town and they’re going to be all over the streets,” said David Gilbert, president and CEO of Destination Cleveland.
When Cleveland was named the host city of the Final Four in 2018, Destination Cleveland estimated it would have a $22 million economic impact on the city, but with the added draw to the games, Gilbert said he expects a much higher figure.
“We’ve been enormous beneficiaries of great timing to be the Final Four where women’s basketball has truly broken out,” Gilbert said. “The NCAA does a nice job of talking about and showcasing the host city.”
In addition to the games at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, there are several weekend events Downtown including a concert at Cleveland Public Hall headlined by hip-hop artist Latto, an Intersport All-Star game at the Wolstein Center, “Party on the Plaza,” a free fan event at Gateway Plaza and “Tourney Town,” a free festival for fans at the Huntington Convention Center.
“I’ve had a great time in Cleveland as well. I spent five hours at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame,” said Cyndy Gray from Iowa. “It’s been the best – Midwest Nice.”
Alyssa Bell – wearing a Connecticut sweatshirt – and Sara Rivera – wearing an Iowa sweatshirt – came to Cleveland together from Maine. They decided after last year’s tournament to attend this year’s Final Four.
“It’s been really great to be here and I’ve never done anything like this before so this environment is – compared to being home is pretty awesome and exciting,” Bell said.
It was serendipity that their favorite teams happened to make the Final Four this year.
“These are by far the biggest hyped women’s games in college, possibly of all time,” Rivera said. “The audience for these games is going to be insane.”
Bell and Rivera were supposed to travel with a third hoops fanatic from Maine, but snowstorms canceled her travel plans.
Sharon McCray sported a Maryland Terrapin shirt, despite Maryland losing in the first round of the tournament. Coming from Maryland, she was excited to check out the fan events.
“So far so good. It’s colder than I expected, but no snow, so that’s a good thing,” McCray said.
Corey Brooks is a West Side Clevelander and happy to see so many visitors coming to his city.
“I’m glad to see more interesting things to come to Cleveland,” Brooks said. “Those great athletes that have made it, I think they’ll appreciate it here.”
Caitlin Clark, who plays for the University of Iowa and won the Associated Press Player of the Year award for women’s college basketball, is perhaps the biggest star in the NCAA basketball tournaments. At a Thursday press conference, Clark complimented Cleveland touting the Rock Hall and playing in the city where NBA legend LeBron James played for 11 seasons.
“I’ve never been to Cleveland before. It’s been awesome,” Clark said. “We’re just excited about the opportunity and we’re happy to be in Cleveland.”
Gilbert said that kind of praise goes a long way for the city’s perception.
“Things like that, they are just so important for Cleveland in terms of helping to continue to change the national narrative that were from things that happened two generations ago,” Gilbert said. “Right now she is probably the most watched athlete in probably all of the United States and to hear that coming from her really is so much fun to see.”
The Final Four games begin Friday night at 7 p.m. with North Carolina State playing the University of South Carolina, followed by Connecticut playing Iowa. Resale tickets to Friday night’s games are selling for a few hundred dollars or more.
