0318?wid=1250&hei=703&$wide-bg$)
MILWAUKEE— This weekend will bring in thousands of visitors to Milwaukee as they cheer on their teams during the NCAA Tournament.
Fiserv Forum will host tournament games, bringing the NCAA Tournament back to the Cream City for the first time since hosting in 2022.
Marissa Werner, director of sports for Visit Milwaukee, was integral in helping bring the tournament back to Milwaukee. She said after hosting in 2022, she believes Milwaukee has become destination for teams to visit.
“We have really shown what Milwaukee is all about as a host,” Werner said. “Creating a special, unique athlete experience for teams that have traveled here in the past. It’s an easy choice for the NCAA to continue to have Milwaukee as host.”
Visit Milwaukee said it expects about 19,000 visitors to come to Milwaukee this weekend. It is also projecting an economic impact of $3.4 million.
Mader’s, a German restaurant in Milwaukee, said its team is preparing for a big boost in business this weekend.
“We are excited to have people from all over the place, all over the country to come join us in Milwaukee for some fantastic college basketball at the Fiserv, right next to our building,” Jackie Porrett, Mader’s bar manager, said. “We have coaches coming in; we have an influx of coaches and teams and people from all over the place.”
This year, there won’t be any Wisconsin-based teams playing with home state advantage. However, the lineup includes teams that have fan bases nearby.
“We have great drive-in teams: Kentucky, Iowa State and Illinois,” Werner said. “We expect to see a huge fan base coming in from those areas to support their teams.”
Hotels are booked up in Milwaukee, too.
Aloft, which is within walking distance of Fiserv Forum, said it is completely booked for Friday night and hope winning teams will extend their stays through the weekend.
“Once the teams were determined, the phones were ringing off the hook and we had a lot of online reservations coming as well,” Tyler Martin, Aloft area director of sales, said. “We went from not sold out to sold out in a matter of minutes.”