Timothy Meinch

tmeinch@dmreg.com

With one NCAA Tournament freshly notched on its belt, Des Moines is going after another — this time with a new host school.

Des Moines has submitted applications this month to host preliminary rounds of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament in 2019 through 2022. Drake University joined the bid as the host institution in place of Iowa State University, which served as the host this spring when the city made its first appearance on the March Madness stage.

The move opens the possibility for Iowa State's basketball team to play first- and second-round games at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

“The whole community performed very well this past March," said Greg Edwards, CEO of the Greater Des Moines Convention and Visitors Bureau. "We’re more confident this year than previous bid cycles, because we had never hosted it before.”

Did Des Moines impress enough to get March Madness again?

Des Moines should find out in November whether it's been selected. Local organizers say they’re optimistic about landing games one of those four years. It's uncommon for a city to be selected for multiple years during the same selection cycle.

“With the NCAA Tournament it’s tough to break in,” said Chris Connolly, general manager at the Iowa Events Center. “We finally broke in, and we felt like we got one of the top draws in the first and second round … I think by all accounts we pulled it off and did a great job.”

Des Moines hosted eight teams over St. Patrick's Day weekend in March, including college basketball powerhouses such as Indiana, Kansas and Kentucky. Sold-out crowds of 17,000 packed Wells Fargo Arena for six games over two days (Thursday and Saturday).

Connolly this week gained the formal blessing of the Polk County Board of Supervisors to submit a bid to the NCAA. The county owns Wells Fargo Arena, which would again serve as the host arena.

Polk County has committed $50,000 for any season that Des Moines would host NCAA Tournament games in the coming four-year bid span. The money would go to general expenses, building improvements and marketing efforts. The county committed the same amount for the 2016 tournament.

Drake officials said they’re thrilled to step up as the host school.

The decision was made after conversations occurred among the athletic directors from all four Iowa Division I schools, according to Sandy Hatfield Clubb, Drake's director of athletics.

“Iowa State obviously paved the way on showing the community how great this event can be and did a great job with it,” Hatfield Clubb said. “We felt like it was our turn.”

Officials at Iowa State declined to comment for this story. But Connolly said the motivation for dropping out of the host-school spot is obvious.

“Let’s face it. They’ve had a lot of success in making the tournament,” he said. “As a host, their basketball team can’t play here in the Wells Fargo Arena (per NCAA rules).”

Iowa State was a No. 4 seed in the 2016 NCAA Tournament but was locked out of a spot in Des Moines. The Cyclones won their first- and second-round games against Iona and Arkansas-Little Rock at the Pepsi Center in Denver.

Relinquishing host-school responsibilities to Drake cracks the door for Iowa State to potentially play in Des Moines, but it's no guarantee. The Cyclones first have to qualify for tournament, and then it comes down to the whims of the NCAA's selection committee.

The Des Moines metro saw a $6 million economic benefit from the 2016 tournament, according to Edwards. That factors in money spent on things such as lodging, transportation, food and entertainment.

That figure doubled his projections leading up to the event. It exceeded the economic impact of the Drake Relays, and it far surpassed the combined impact of the state high school wrestling, girls' basketball and boys' basketball tournaments. Wells Fargo Arena also hosts those high school events.

Edwards said the NCAA Tournament drew 20,000 to 25,000 people to the downtown area.

That included a herd of national journalists and public figures who voiced a slew of accolades, many with a hint of surprise, about Des Moines' appeal.

Connolly said this year's bid application included a video summing up the positive feedback Des Moines received.

As for other gems in the application, some must remain shrouded.

“We don’t want to give up any secrets to other markets,” he said.

One likely highlight is the 330-room Iowa Events Center convention hotel scheduled to open in 2018, one year before any of the proposed tournament dates. The fact that it's attached to the Events Center could be a game-changer.

“The NCAA has told us all along that would be a plus point to have an attached Events Center hotel," Edwards said.