KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It's been a big few months for Kansas City, to say the least.
Not even three weeks ago was the Big 12 Tournament. Now, it's the Midwest Region's Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games that's bringing in more teams, and in some cases, more money.
"It's probably not having a local team (that's) slightly better at times, because now you have four teams that are all from out of state that are coming in that will need hotel rooms, and as much as we love our Jayhawks, they don't always like hotel rooms with their tickets," said Kathy Nelson, president and CEO of the KC Sports Commission.
On top of basketball, the National Society of Black Engineers Convention is also in town, meaning more people and participants. The Hotel & Lodging Association of Greater KC says it's rare that we have big events like this in the same weekend, and it really is a win for the city.
"This is not only great for our hotels it’s great for our locals, it’s great for our residents, because having out of town guests impact our city and pay our taxes, it benefits the resident," said Andrea O'Hara, the Executive Director of the association. "It keeps our property taxes low and really stimulates our economy."
Both events together are estimated to bring in $30 million.
"Those two combined really kind of blow things out of the water," O'Hara said.
And then there's the NFL Draft that begins in a month. The KC Sports Commission estimates 300,000 people will show up over the three day duration of the event.
"We’re ready for it, our hotels are ready for it, it’s a great time for them," O'Hara said. "They’ve had a fantastic first quarter of the year. It’s a great start to the new year, and that will just continue as we gain momentum into April."
