In a recent two-year stretch when St. Louis was hosting a Division I men’s basketball regional, two Division I Wrestling Championships and a Men’s Final Four, sports commission president Frank Viverito had a banner made that appropriately said, “Welcome to Championship City.”

Viverito may want to use that banner again, since the NCAA is engaging in a pilot program that designates six cities – St. Louis; Cleveland; San Antonio; Indianapolis; San Diego and Cary, North Carolina – as “Championship Cities” for the next four years.

The Championship City initiative is a site strategy designed to increase the promotion of various NCAA championship events, enhance the experience for the student-athletes who participate in them, engage and support the communities that host them, and create fiscal and administrative efficiencies for those who conduct them.

The cities selected for the pilot will host a number of NCAA championship events in each division over the next four years – some that had been awarded to those cities before the new pilot program was created, but others that each city bid on during a request-for-proposal process that attracted interest from almost two dozen cities. Though six were selected for now, other cities will have the opportunity to participate in the future if the pilot program becomes an ongoing initiative, as is expected.

“The Championship City model is a multiple-event concept that will create greater community support of the events through increased attendance and an enhanced atmosphere for the student-athletes and fans, as well as operational and economic efficiencies both for the cities and the NCAA,” said NCAA President Myles Brand. “This bundling of events allows the NCAA and the cities to provide benefits collectively that individual championships would be unable to provide on their own.”

Each of the six cities selected to take part in the pilot program have hosted an NCAA championship in previous years, most including various levels of the Division I men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. While most cities selected to host an NCAA championship focus on a specific division or sport, the Championship City pilot will provide the six cities with the privilege to host specific NCAA championships in Division I, II and III; a wider range of sports to host, which opens the city to a broader and diverse range of fans; rights to use enhanced NCAA trademarks; and NCAA marketing initiatives that identify it as a city selected specifically by the NCAA for the Championship City pilot program.

Through the program, the cities will work more closely with NCAA administrators to provide an enhanced championship experience for NCAA student-athletes and fans.  Enhancements may include hosting social-networking activities in which student-athletes can communicate via the Internet about their academic and/or athletics experiences; creating a student-athlete lounge; hosting concerts and sports forums; hosting fan festivals that provide additional opportunities for visitors and residents to celebrate the student-athletes and championship; and providing additional opportunities for student-athletes to interact with each other at host city attractions and venues.

Business model

St. Louis, which already had been awarded the Division I Wrestling Championships and the Women’s Final Four for 2009 and a Division I men’s basketball regional for 2010, adds the 2010 and 2011 Division III Women’s Volleyball Championships, a 2011 Division I men’s ice hockey regional and the 2012 Division I Wrestling Championships to its host card.

While conducting NCAA championships is not new to a city that will have hosted 20 from 1998-2010, Viverito says the Championship City approach enhances an effort the city already covets.

“We don’t have to be sold on the Championship City concept at all,” he said. “We are looking at it as something that is focused on our mission, something our community appreciates and something that we can do a good job with – it’s more a convergence of our goals and objectives and NCAA goals and objectives through a program that will bring multiple events to our region and give us a marketing advantage to designate St. Louis as a Championship City.”

At its core, Championship Cities is a business model. The idea emerged from a review of championship administration with an eye toward reducing expenses, increasing revenue and enhancing the student-athlete experience. Championship Cities should accomplish all three.

“The championships staff at the national office is charged with efficient use of resources, effective operating and administrative procedures, supporting and enhancing the student-athlete experience and meeting membership expectations,” said Joni Comstock, NCAA senior vice president for championships. “Championship Cities is among the strategies that allow us to most effectively accomplish those four goals. We already have examples in men’s lacrosse, the Division II Championships Festivals and other by-sport combinations (track and field, soccer and swimming) to show that concurrent championships lead to more efficiencies. The pilot Championship City program is another step in that direction.”

Planning opportunity

Once the Championship City model was created, the NCAA approached about three dozen cities, 21 of which responded with interest. From those, eight were chosen as finalists. The six awardees have extensive experience hosting NCAA championships and were comfortable with the Championship City approach.

For the cities, beyond the economic impact of hosting NCAA championships, there is value in being able to plan more effectively and arrange other community events around the NCAA championships that officials can count on being there. Event planners also can leverage the package of NCAA championships to influence city leaders to devote resources to surrounding events as well.

“It’s much easier for us to generate awareness and support if we can present a package like this to our constituents,” Viverito said. “If I go to them and say we’ve been awarded such and such a championship in 2011, the folks on our board might say, ‘Great,’ and then we move on. But if I can bring to our board a broader array of events over two or three years, that stops traffic. We’ll be able to package them, generate media attention, sell tickets and create special experiences.”

San Antonio Sports Foundation Executive Director Susan Blackwood agreed, saying the synergy of sequencing the events, as well as the possibility of having the same event for consecutive years, allows city officials to build relationships and momentum.

“It’s not a ‘build it and they will come’ phenomenon, but there are things you can build upon once you know the championship is coming that will not only benefit the championship itself in terms of support from the community, but also have a positive impact on our amateur sports community here,” she said.

San Antonio, which hosted the Men’s Final Four last year and will host the Women’s Final Four in 2010, adds Division III men’s and women’s soccer (2009 and 2010), Division II women’s basketball (2009), Division II men’s and women’s swimming and diving (2011) and Division I women’s volleyball (2011).

“We’ve had such good involvement with our past championship experiences,” Blackwood said. “The Championship City concept gives us an even greater opportunity to bring wholesome amateur sports to the community and help build a legacy for our young people here.”

Economies of scale

In addition to the community engagement and enhanced student-athlete and fan experiences, Comstock cited the Championship City model’s efficiencies and cost savings in travel, signage and lodging through economies of scale. In many ways, in fact, the model accomplishes the goal of increasing revenue by cutting costs.

But beyond dollars, Comstock said the initiative just makes sense, especially at a time in which championships administration is being affected by rising fuel costs and reduced flight options.

“It strengthens the NCAA brand at these venues and allows the NCAA to establish operational relationships and efficiencies,” she said. “The NCAA also becomes a higher priority in a city’s event planning – since city officials know the championship is occurring at a given time, they can plan other events around it.”

NCAA President Brand said the NCAA has a more than half-century track record of conducting quality postseason events, but the Championship City effort could exceed even those benchmarks.

“The new model allows us to make for an even better experience for the participants, the host and the NCAA,” he said. “Championship Cities and other site strategies allow the NCAA to leverage the total value of our championships while maintaining the uniqueness in philosophy and presentation of each membership division.”

Championship Cities

Cary, North Carolina

2008 Division I Women’s College Cup*

2009 Division I Women’s Basketball Regional*

2009 Division I Men’s College Cup

2010 Division II Baseball Championship

2010 Division I Women’s College Cup

2011 Division III Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championships

2012 Division III Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships

Cleveland

2009 Division III Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championships

2009 Division III Women’s Volleyball Championship

2010 Division III Men’s Tennis Championships

2010 Division III Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships

2011 National Collegiate Women’s Gymnastics Championships

Indianapolis

2009 Division I Men’s Basketball Regional*

2010 Men’s Final Four*

2011 Women’s Final Four*

St. Louis

2009 Division I Wrestling Championships*

2009 Women’s Final Four*

2010 Division I Men’s Basketball Regional*

2010 Division III Women’s Volleyball Championship

2011 Division III Women’s Volleyball Championship

2011 Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Regional

2012 Division I Wrestling Championships

San Antonio

2009 Division II Women’s Basketball Championship

2009 Division III Men’s and Women’s Soccer Championships

2010 Women’s Final Four*

2010 Division III Men’s and Women’s Soccer Championships

2011 Division II Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships

2011 Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship

San Diego

2009 Division I Women’s Basketball Regional

2010 National Collegiate Women’s Water Polo Championship

2011 Division I Men’s Golf Regional

*Awarded before the Championship City pilot was developed