Pittsburgh and Cleveland Regionals

[Tuba4]

Originally Posted by Bill Moore

Actually, there are 2 "March Madnesses", you cannot forget the womens basketball tournament as well. The first round of these tournaments, 64 teams playing, require 8 regional arenas (some sports freak can correct me on that number), and the arenas are not "static" but change from year to year.

The NCAA may not grant a basketball playoff to a smaller arena (say Drexel), but the Pedersen Center certainly could be considered as a host for playoffs. So college basketball, can certainly affect the availability of these arenas during March.

Point is well taken regarding the "other" March Madness tournament. But I would wager if the NCAA held a regional or sub-regional in Pittsburgh, it would be at the Mellon Arena which seats 17,500 for basketball/hockey. If the NCAA went to Cleveland, the event would undoubtedly be held at the Quicken Loans Arena (don't you just love the commercialization of names?)
which can seat 19,000+ for basketball. I would imagine both places would be well out of the budget range for a FIRST event.

Just out of curiosity, how big is the typical arena that a FIRST regional is held at? I can only speak to the ones where I have attended.

Cleveland - Wohlstein Center - 13,500
Pittsburgh - Petersen Center - 12,500
GTR Mississauga - Hershey Centre (Canadian spelling!!) - 5,400
Atlanta - Georgia Dome - 80,000