The N-C-A-A men’s basketball tournament is returning to Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines in 2019. The president of the Greater Des Moines Convention and Visitors Bureau, Greg Edwards, got emotional a couple of times Tuesday as he talked with reporters following the announcement by the N-C-A-A. Edwards says winning the bid to host the tourney is as big a deal for the organizing committee as it is for the teams who play their way in.

Greg Edwards

Des Moines hosted the first two rounds in 2016, but Edwards says they knew they weren’t guaranteed to get another bid. “So when we sat down and began strategizing with this round, we knew the N-C-A-A was very pleased with some of the things we did and we had several follow up meetings with them since 2016. But, we continue to really create that bond between ourselves and the N-C-A-A staff, which I think is very important. and we do have a very strong bond with a lot of the basketball teammembers from the N-C-A-A,” Edwards said.

Edwards says the tickets sold out quickly for the rounds in Des Moines, and he says the turnout for the free day to watch practice made an impression. That was a huge thing for the N-C-A-A. They said they’d never seen any practice rounds so full,” according to Edwards. “They sold more merchandise out of the Wells Fargo Arena that day than they’d ever sold in any other arena. So, that was pretty cool.”

He says the announcement now sets things into motion for 2019. We’ll start really immediately hosting our local organizing committee meetings talking about everything from logistics to airport to transportation and on and on,”Edwards says. “We’ll have everything double crossed off by the time 2019 rolls around.”

Des Moines’ first tourney included big names teams like Kansas, Kentucky and Indiana, which put even more of a spotlight on the venue. Wells Fargo Arena Manager Chris Connolly says the timing of the tournament works well in the sports schedule. He says the N-C-A-A Tournament is after the boys and girls state tournaments, and the Wild hockey team and Energy basketball team understand that it is a good thing for Des Moines and don’t mind having the time blocked out.

The Greater Des Moines Convention and Visitors Bureau estimates the 2016 tournament had a five million dollar impact on the area.

(Radio Iowa)