DAYTON, Ohio — March Madness begins Tuesday with the First Four games in Dayton. Once again, Cincinnati is not hosting any NCAA basketball tournament games.
"Dayton does a good job of making sure fans feel welcome," said Ian White.
The Cincinnati native has traveled to Dayton ever since the city started hosting the NCAA First Four. On Tuesday afternoon, we caught up with White watching Xavier University and the University of Texas practice at the University of Dayton Arena.
"You have fans from Texas and North Carolina and Alabama State coming to little ole Dayton Ohio," White said. "Cincinnati is definitely missing out on the economic impact."
It's a narrative that's been repeated for years across Cincinnati. In 2017, the NCAA announced Cincinnati as a host city for the 2022 NCAA March Madness Men's Basketball Tournament. That bid came with conditions that included $200 million in renovations. However, the owners never made those changes.
In 2019, the NCAA announced it was pulling out of Cincinnati and moving the 2022 games to Indianapolis. In the years following, leaders with Visit Cincy, as well as members of Cincinnati City Council, and grassroots groups have all proposed a new arena in Cincinnati.
Destination Dayton estimates with the NCAA First Four, the city generates around $6 million a year, which includes money spent at hotels, bars, restaurants and downtown shops. Last fall, several groups including the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber conducted a feasibility study on a new arena for the city.
"What we found was that a modern arena would have about a 22 million dollar a year economic impact just on the operations of the building alone," said Pete Metz, Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber.
WATCH: Could March Madness ever come back to Cincinnati?
The study concluded there's demand for a new arena in Cincinnati and it would be profitable. It also found that a new arena would attract more concerts and events to the city, such as March Madness.
"I think in order to do that, there has to be a fair and equitable distribution of that sales tax," said Jay Kincaid, Hamilton County Growth Alliance.
Kincaid's group is planning on releasing ads to build support for a new arena in Cincinnati. They want to convince the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners to spend sales-tax dollars to pay for it. Back in Dayton, White is urging all stakeholders to step up now and get the arena built in Cincinnati.
"Make Cincinnati sports great again — we already got Tee Higgins and Ja'Marr Chase. Hey, they need to donate some money," said White.
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