NCAA Final Four

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a non-profit association dedicated to the well-being and lifelong success of college athletes. Headquartered in Indianapolis, IN, 1,123 colleges and universities are currently affiliated to the NCAA, along with 98 voting athletics conferences and 39 affiliated organizations.

Originally established in 1905 as the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (IAAUS), the association rebranded as the NCAA in 1910 and currently awards 90 national championships yearly, including the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament. This is a single-elimination tournament featuring 68 Division I level college basketball teams to determine the national championship. Commonly known as March Madness due to the scheduling of the single-elimination rounds, the tournament culminates with an annual 4-day extravaganza of events (Final Four) centered around three basketball games in a different host city each year.

In spring 2017, Seidman was commissioned to undertake two studies for the NCAA and the Phoenix Final Four Local Host Committee. These were:

• The development, distribution, and analysis of a participant survey for all college teams in the 2017 March Madness tournament.
• An assessment of the economic impact of the 2017 NCAA Final Four tournament held in Glendale, which utilized primary survey data for visitor and organizational expenditures in the state, and excluded resident spending.

Both studies were completed in partnership with the W. P. Carey School Marketing Department.