Local Organizing Committee Established to Support NCAA Tournament

The NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, aka "March Madness", returns to Raleigh and the RBC Center March 21-23, 2008.

And to make sure that our region hosts this first-class event in first-class fashion, N.C. State University, the Greater Raleigh CVB and the Greater Raleigh Sports Council have invited a group of 16 community leaders to form an NCAA Basketball Local Organizing Committee (LOC). The primary goal of the LOC is to ensure that the local community embraces and supports the NCAA Tournament, which easily one of America's two most celebrated sporting events (along with the Super Bowl).

The focus of the LOC will be on programs and services such as flagpole banners, welcome signage, hospitality, official team welcomes, receptions, special events, fan events, volunteers, hotel preparations and more. The LOC hopes to have a positive impact on all visitors, including everyone from the participating teams to the fans, from the national media to NCAA staff and committee members.

"The purpose of the LOC is to roll out the red carpet for the NCAA, to ensure that our community truly embraces this event and to make it crystal clear to all of our visitors how important the NCAA Tournament is to Greater Raleigh" said Scott Dupree, Director of Sports Marketing for the GRCVB and LOC committee co-chair.

Decisions for future NCAA Tournament sites in 2011 and 2012 will be made in Summer 2008, and the hopes are that the red-carpet treatment in 2008 will create a lasting and favorable impression with the NCAA and will strengthen the chances of being awarded the 2011 or 2012 tournaments.

All 2008 NCAA Men's Basketball 1st & 2nd Round Games will be televised on CBS. Tickets are already on sale, and the games in Raleigh are certain to be a complete sell-out. For more details on the tournament and for ticket information, click here.

2008 NCAA Basketball Local Organizing Committee

Scott Dupree, co-chair, Greater Raleigh CVB
Shannon Yates, co-chair, NC State University
Alison Barnwell, vice-chair, Greater Raleigh Sports Council
Chris Alston, NC State University
John Brantley, RDU
Lindy Brown, Wake County Board of Commissioners
Dick Christy, NC State University
Tom Dillon, Sheraton Raleigh Hotel
Rick French, French/West/Vaughan
Felicia Gressette, News & Observer
Tracey Lovejoy, Downtown Raleigh Alliance
Tom McCormick, City of Raleigh & Centennial Authority
Larry Perkins, RBC Center
Jason Philbeck, Greater Raleigh CVB
Jessie Taliaferro, Raleigh City Council
Theresa Tyler, Greater Raleigh CVB