In April, the NCAA Women’s Final Four descends upon Cleveland for the first time since 2007. Since then, women’s college basketball’s popularity has exploded, and the City of Cleveland has hosted a significant number of major events. Ahead of next month’s contest, David Gilbert, president and CEO of the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission, discusses what it takes to plan for the big games.
Q: How does an event like the NCAA Women’s Final Four end up in Cleveland?
A: It’s a pretty long, competitive process. Every event that we go after, in one way, shape or form, we are competing against other cities in the United States and occasionally around the world to host. The Women’s Final Four, the NCAA has a process and we were awarded the event about five years ago, it was about a year-long process. So it gives you an idea of sometimes events have been quite far out.
Q: Cleveland has done well with big events in the past. How does that help to land something like the NCAA Women’s Final Four?
A: Cleveland has earned a reputation for being one of the top cities in America for hosting events, and it took us a long time to get there. I think that we’ve hosted a lot of great events, including a Women’s Final Four back in ‘07. I really think we’re absolutely one of, if not the leading city in the country, at least we believe so, in what we do with these events to engage the community and make them better and more successful for that event.
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Q: What type of economic impact do you believe the Women’s Final Four will have on Cleveland?
A: We expected when we bid on the event from some past Final Fours somewhere between $25 million and $30 million. There’s a real chance it will be a good amount higher because the event has gotten so much bigger.
Q: What is one event Cleveland hasn’t had that you would like to see here?
A: It’s a good question. I would tell you I don’t view our success as a community in terms of, ‘Hey, we’ve made it because we got X.’ I think the biggest challenge is how do we keep Cleveland positioned as one of the top cities in America for the hosting of these major events? And it’s not easy because it’s so highly competitive.
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