Bucks Work to Keep NCAA Tournament in Milwaukee

The Milwaukee Bucks want to keep the NCAA coming back to Milwaukee. Another March Madness economic boost for the city has come and gone but if things go as planned, that tournament could return and be played in the new Bucks arena.

In a statement, the Bucks say they along with their partners at Marquette are actively engaged in the bidding process for the 2019 through 2022 tournaments. They says it’s all in hopes of keeping NCAA basketball in Milwaukee.

The excitement brought thousands of people to the Bradley Center and an estimated $6 million to the city, according to visit Milwaukee.

In order to get an exact number of the economic boost the tournament brought in, experts say they’re looking at things like hotel bookings, restaurants, fly in visitors, and drive in visitors.

“This is the seventh time that Milwaukee has hosted the NCAA tournament and the last time it was here, in 2014, it was a $4.6 million economic impact,” says Kristin Settle, head of public relations for Visit Milwaukee. “So the fact that it’s jumped up to six, just the preliminary estimates is huge. We anticipate it’ll be a little more in the end.”

The organization says they hope to have the exact economic impact this weekend had on the city in the coming weeks.