The Genius Behind March Madness

Who ya got? Before the March Madness begins today, a little throwback to how some business people in Seattle learned from previous Final Fours about how to promote and effectively run the spectacle that it is today. (Also had a couple of future hall of famers playing, just one year before Phi Slama Jama in 1984.)

“Before 1984, no host city had created a local organizing committee to exploit the possibilities that a Final Four presented. But the Seattle Host Committee created one to ensure that the 1984 Final Four would become a four-day festival to remember.

For the first time in the event’s history, a host city’s downtown would be festooned with pennants, banners and welcoming billboards. Also for the first time, bands and cheerleaders would be positioned strategically on city streets to add to the gala nature of the occasion. Sears had this idea: paint a huge yellow-brick road just outside the Kingdome. The CBS cameras would find ‘The Road To The Emerald City’ irresistible.”

“Many of the Seattle Host Committee’s ideas for the 1984 Final Four hatched from the debris left by other host cities, especially Albuquerque, site of the 1983 Final Four. Although that event concluded with one of the greatest games in NCAA tournament history, North Carolina State’s 54-52 upset of the University of Houston, nicknamed Phi Slama Jama, the surrounding aspects had been fraught with problems.”

The basketball configuration that Ted Bowsfield and Bob Walsh designed for Kingdome. Originally, developed by the Seattle SuperSonics, the cofiguation enabled Seattle to host Final Fours. / David Eskenazi Collection

So as we dive into a month of excitement, let’s give a virtual thank you to those who learned from others, and carefully, planned and executed a vision of a better, more exciting tournament.

Source: Wayback Machine: Genesis Of 'March Madness' - Sportspress Northwest