SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — “The Basketball Tournament” returns to Syracuse for the first time since 2019. “TBT” is a men’s eight region, 64-team $1-million dollar winner-take-all tournament.
SRC’s Arena Assistant Director of Events, Sara Conway, can be credited for her persistent work in making it possible for the arena to host the Syracuse region.
Competing with facilities such as Syracuse University’s JMA Wireless Dome, Onondaga Community College’s SRC Arena is built for the tournament.
With a seating capacity of sixty-five hundred, Conway said their client “TBT” expects to come up just short of meeting that standard.
“Their goal is three to four thousand people so that is what we will be setting for,” Conway said. “It makes it more intimate I think.”
“TBT” was honest with Conway in their tour of SRC Arena by mentioning their desire to operate out of Syracuse University. Concerns regarding air conditioning and seat capacity didn’t check the box. Conway says the size of their arena allows the atmosphere to look really cool on TV.
“We are very excited and yeah, we’re looking forward to it,” Conway said.
Arena’s concession options will be limited because Conway has found it hard to hire students since the pandemic. “We used to have a great ushering program,” Conway said. “Since then we haven’t been able to recruit the students.”
Conway continues to manage all the different entities that will be of major importance come tournament time. In anticipation of a large crowd, Conway has hired an outside security team to help within the building.
“I work with our security team. I work with the outside security teams. It’s pulling all of those people together and just trying to manage them,” Conway said.
Conway is ready for any sudden changes the event presents. Her ability to adjust has made this tournament possible.
