Downtown Lincoln Welcomes Thousands of Visitors For State Basketball

Check out NSAA on Facebook

Lincoln is gearing up for part two of the NSAA Nebraska State Basketball Championships with the boys’ first round of games starting this Thursday, March 10. Visitors from all over Nebraska are migrating to the capital city to show support for their teams and are enjoying the sights and sounds of Lincoln as they stroll the downtown streets.

Jeff Maul, executive director at the Lincoln Convention and Visitors Bureau, spoke highly of the state tournaments and all the people who travel to the city of Lincoln for the events.

“It means a ton to our community. These are visitors coming from across the state that plan small vacations, they plan to bring their entire community to Lincoln for a weekend to cheer on their team and to shop, eat and play as well.”

The 2011 girls’ state basketball wrapped up last Saturday and crowned state champions including Bellevue East of Class A, Seward of Class B, Hastings St. Cecilia of Class C-1, Homer of Class C-2, Howells of Class D-1, and Wynot of Class D-2. Three-day attendance at the girls’ state basketball tournament was 55,378 with the last day bringing in 13,572 attendees.

Maul spoke about the role that the Visitors Bureau plays during these state tournaments and what they do to make visitors feel right at home.

“We provide shuttle service to and from the Haymarket parking garages and we will pick people up at those locations and drop them off at Pershing Center. The shuttle is free and the city of Lincoln provides $3 all day parking at any of the three garages. We also have visitor information tables at all state high school tournament sites that are staffed and also stocked with literature on things to do in Lincoln as well as coupons and specials from area businesses and retailers.”

In addition, the Visitors Bureau provided Valentino’s Pizza and Pepsi Products for over 615 players and coaches last Thursday at the start of the girls’ state basketball tournament and will do the same for the boys this Thursday.

“This event couldn’t take place without the amazing partnership that we have across the community, not only with the Lincoln public schools and the University of Nebraska, but with the organizations like DLA and businesses across our community that help make these tournaments happen. This is indeed a community event.”

Maul said the Visitors Bureau receives numerous calls from area businesses wanting to know when big events like state high school tournaments will be held so that they can plan to increase their staff during those times and arrange for special deals and promotions. Last year, over 91,000 people attended the boys’ state basketball tournament and Maul expects similar numbers this year.

“The reception has been great,” Maul said. “A lot of people have enjoyed the foot traffic in downtown Lincoln. These are visitors that are pretty easily identifiable because they have their team colors on and they’re looking for something a little bit unique in the downtown area and just enjoy being down there.”

The weather is primed to make the three-day event even better. Thursday’s high is projected to be at 48°, Friday’s high at 59° and Saturday’s at 47° with a mostly sunny forecast all three days.

This year’s top seeds for boys include Omaha Central (23-3) of class A, South Sioux City (21-2) of Class B, Grand Island CC (24-1) of class C1, Archbishop Bergan (20-5) of Class C2, West Point CC (18-8) of class D1 and Giltner (22-2) of class D2.

For a full bracket and schedule of the upcoming Nebraska boys’ state basketball tournament, click here.

To see the results of the girls’ state basketball tournament, click here.