Thousands of visitors to Lexington are expected to begin arriving Wednesday for first- and second round NCAA tournament games at Rupp Arena. Bob Quick, the president and CEO of Commerce Lexington, said a great juggernaut of folks from all over the country will be coming.
“They'll spend a fair amount of money at the hotel, restaurants, gas stations. And then, you know, they typically look for kind of knick-knack type things to buy at different stores.”
Quick said there’ll be a long-term benefit, too, as some visitors will like what they see and return.
“We kind of take it for granted. But people come in here, they're really blown away. So there's a lot of things that when people come here, that kind of bites them, and they come back, and they'll come back many times.”
Last week, Memorial Coliseum hosted the girls’ Sweet 16. Rupp Arena is the site of four mens’ first-round games Thursday, with two second-rounders Saturday. The following week, the boys’ Sweet 16 will be played in the House that Rupp built. Visit Lex predicts those three weeks of games will have a $10 million economic impact.
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