Here are some ways you can enjoy the NCAA tournament without a ticket

Tickets to watch the upcoming NCAA men’s basketball tournament aren’t exactly cheap.

With single-session tickets (that allow access to two games) starting at $202.50, some may be seeking cheaper ways to get in the basketball spirit.

As Wichita teeters toward its time in the national spotlight, details are emerging on some of the fan activities surrounding the tournament.

In 2014, Wichita was selected as a host site for the first and second rounds of the 2018 NCAA men’s basketball tournament – ending a 24-year hosting drought. This year’s tournament is officially hosted by Wichita State University and is supported by the city of Wichita, Sedgwick County, the Greater Wichita Sports Commission and Visit Wichita.

The tournament is expected to bring in thousands of tourists to Wichita, and Visit Wichita estimates it will make a $10 million impact on the local economy.

General-public tickets to the games are sold out, according to the arena, but tickets are still available through the NCAA Ticket Exchange – an NCAA-approved resale website.

Three years from now, Wichita will get another crack at hosting, as it was selected to host first- and second-round matchups again in 2021.

Wichita has been feverishly prepping for the tournament for the past few years, as a slew of downtown projects have been completed or are nearing completion.

Here’s an update on some of the official tournament-related events:

‘Fan Fest’

An important part of Wichita’s NCAA-hosting proposal, the “Fan Fest” is intended to show off Wichita to visiting tournament-goers.

The city is to provide a free $250,000 outdoor festival – according to the city’s original proposal – featuring food trucks, a beer garden, basketball hoops, a live DJ and large-screen televisions for watching broadcasts of the games.

It is a one-day event scheduled for Thursday, March 15 – a departure from the three-day festival the city originally promised the NCAA.

St. Francis will be blocked off between Douglas Street and Intrust Bank Arena, scheduled to be full of entertainment for visitors.

The “Fan Fest” is scheduled to last from two hours prior to the first tipoff through the day Thursday. Inside the arena, four games will be played that day.

That Saturday (March 17), two games will be played at the arena – with the winners of each game advancing to the Sweet 16. On Saturday there will be no official “Fan Fest,” “but there will be lots happening around the area,” said Susie Santo, president and CEO of Visit Wichita.

“The Delano St. Patrick’s Day parade will be happening – we’ll let guests know about that, and around the arena several other events are popping up for folks to grab food and drink,” she said.

The Wichita Brewing Company will be one of those pop-ups.

Throughout the tournament – from Wednesday to Saturday night – the popular brewery and pizzeria will have a mobile location set up in two parking lots west of the arena off Emporia.

“It’s going to be like a beer garden, but we’re going to call it a tailgate party,” said Greg Gifford, WBC’s owner. “We’ll have our mobile pizza oven and we’re going to have all our beers there.”

The Noble House food truck is also scheduled to be by the Wichita Brewing Company location, Gifford said.

“We’ll be gearing everything up,” he said. “It should be a pretty big week for the city of Wichita.”

Specific details on many of the fan-oriented events surrounding the tournament are still relatively scant at this point, but Santo assures more information will be publicized about a month prior to the tournament’s opening.

Watch practice

Even if you don’t have tickets to the tournament, there are still ways you can see visiting teams in person.

The arena will be open to the public on Wednesday, March 14, and all eight visiting teams will practice for 45 minutes each.

“Some of them will bring things like their band, their cheerleaders, their mascots – mascots can interact with people in the stands,” said Cynthia Wentworth, vice president for marketing at Visit Wichita. “It’s a great opportunity to get the feel of the NCAA being in town.”

Intrust Bank Arena’s concession stands will be open throughout the day for Wichitans who want to sit in on the team practices.

“It’s a great opportunity to grab lunch and sit and watch these incredible athletes practice,” Santo said.

More information on the practice schedule will become available as tournament time approaches.

As of now, no one knows who might be playing in Wichita – teams won’t be selected until March 11. But one thing’s for sure – Wichita State won’t be playing here, because NCAA rules prohibit host schools from playing at their own site.

Various tournament forecasters have suggested KU might play in Wichita, but no one truly knows yet.

How to get your business involved

Visit Wichita is providing materials to any Wichita business that wants to get in on the NCAA action come March.

It will provide signs welcoming tournament-goers to the business, things to affix to windows, information booklets and other materials.

“We’re getting calls pretty much daily,” Santo said.

For more information, email info@visitwichita.com.

This story was originally published January 22, 2018 at 6:25 AM with the headline "Here are some ways you can enjoy the NCAA tournament without a ticket."