Pittsburgh as a Host City for Rounds 1/2

[GaryMcgheeForThree]

Since Pittsburgh is hosting the first couple rounds of the tournament again this year, just a few questions for any of you that went a few years ago.

1. Ticket Advice. Is it best to splurge for an “all sessions” ticket now, or wait until the resale market opens up and we know who’s coming?

2. Is it worth sitting in the rafters at PPG for basketball? I’d love to watch actual live March Madness games for the first time, but I also love taking the 4 screens approach at home. Do they do a good job showing you other games and such in person?

3. Any other thoughts or advice when it comes to us hosting this year?

 

[mike10003]

1. I usually just buy on stubhub a few days before, there is a small chance if the "popular" team loses, there will be a lot of tickets for the 2nd round. And if the Pittsburgh pod gets stuck with an early afternoon 1st round session, I can't make that because of work anyways.

2. I think it kinda sucks to sit in the upper level for basketball. I like seeing the players/teams up close in the lower level. So that's just up to you. IIRC, they sometimes show a few in-progress highlights of other games during media timeouts on the jumbotron, but it's not a lot in the way of "watching other games"

3. Assuming nothing is radically different from the previous times PPG has hosted, I've always enjoyed going, just to watch other teams, as an fan of college basketball. Obviously Pitt has never been good enough to be put there when PPG is hosting, so there aren't any stressful emotions or anything, unlike the other fanbases

 

[King Of All Message Boards]

Yea the resale depends on who’s here. The year Villanova was here tickets were scarce. Other years there were many deals to be had.

 

[HailToPitt1985]

Thinking of "what ifs". I'm pretty sure Pitt would have been at PPG Paints Arena when Pitt was a #1 seed under Dixon back in 2011. That would have been the most fun this city has had in a long, long time.

 

[whirlybird optio]

Feels like this is a year where Pittsburgh doesn’t get huge names. Maybe Duke?

But there isn’t a Villanova coming who are gonna buy all the seats.

I’ve seen mock brackets with like Iowa St, Creighton, Illinois etc here. Those teams have fanbases, but it’s not gonna be like if we got Nova, or UConn, or UNC

 

[TheSpecialSauce]

1. I usually just buy on stubhub a few days before, there is a small chance if the "popular" team loses, there will be a lot of tickets for the 2nd round. And if the Pittsburgh pod gets stuck with an early afternoon 1st round session, I can't make that because of work anyways.

2. I think it kinda sucks to sit in the upper level for basketball. I like seeing the players/teams up close in the lower level. So that's just up to you. IIRC, they sometimes show a few in-progress highlights of other games during media timeouts on the jumbotron, but it's not a lot in the way of "watching other games"

3. Assuming nothing is radically different from the previous times PPG has hosted, I've always enjoyed going, just to watch other teams, as a fan of college basketball. Obviously Pitt has never been good enough to be put there when PPG is hosting, so there aren't any stressful emotions or anything, unlike the other fanbases

 

[mike10003]

View embedded media

Haha that's before my time as a Pitt alum/fan (started in 2008), that's cool!!

 

[HailToPitt1985]

View embedded media

Those were fun times. The days when Pitt held their opponents down defensively to under 60 total points, most of the times in the low 50's. I know it's fun to watch an up and down scoring marathon, but I love to watch a team shut another team down defensively like Pitt used to do.

 

[MorningCoffee13]

Since Pittsburgh is hosting the first couple rounds of the tournament again this year, just a few questions for any of you that went a few years ago.

1. Ticket Advice. Is it best to splurge for an “all sessions” ticket now, or wait until the resale market opens up and we know who’s coming?

2. Is it worth sitting in the rafters at PPG for basketball? I’d love to watch actual live March Madness games for the first time, but I also love taking the 4 screens approach at home. Do they do a good job showing you other games and such in person?

3. Any other thoughts or advice when it comes to us hosting this year?

1. It depends on what you want. I liked buying the sessions so I could get where I wanted to sit. Maybe if there was a game that conflicted I could sale the tickets. But secondary market could get you what you want at prices maybe Better. Maybe worse if a top team gets landed here.

2. Get as low as you can.

3. Other advice. It’s really cold in the arena. Particularly if the weather outside is nice and you go in shorts and tshirt. They have to keep the ice there so I remember the last time I went it was friggin freezing.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

And if the Pittsburgh pod gets stuck with an early afternoon 1st round session, I can't make that because of work anyways.

The first game in Pittsburgh is going to start at somewhere between 12:15 and 1:00 or so. Because that is literally when all non-western time zone pods start, every year.

The Thursday sites this year are Pittsburgh, Charlotte, Omaha and Salt Lake, so the most likely schedule that day is something like either Pittsburgh or Charlotte at 12:15, the other of the two at 12:30, Omaha around 12:45 - 1:00, and Salt Lake City at something like 1:15 - 1:30.

 

[whirlybird optio]

Also, just seeing that Cal game posted here, let me again shout this from the rooftops…

The tournament was just so much more aesthetically pleasing when then sites all had unique court floors. The standardized courts suck. Pitt playing on a weird Duquesne parquet floor - yes please. Remember when we played in Detroit and the court was like all black for Oakland lol? Again, I know no one cares, but it was better.

 

[PantherRama724]

Feels like this is a year where Pittsburgh doesn’t get huge names. Maybe Duke?

But there isn’t a Villanova coming who are gonna buy all the seats.

I’ve seen mock brackets with like Iowa St, Creighton, Illinois etc here. Those teams have fanbases, but it’s not gonna be like if we got Nova, or UConn, or UNC

I’d much rather have some of the crazy Midwest fanbases than the blue bloods. When the A-10 would have their tourney here, Dayton fans would take over it seemed like and they were a great bunch. Very knowledgeable.

Conversely, when we’ve had Duke here or Nova it’s just a lot of arrogance. Nova fans aren’t as bad but the Duke fans in my section when they were last here were just unbearable.

 

[ratking17]

Also, just seeing that Cal game posted here, let me again shout this from the rooftops…

The tournament was just so much more aesthetically pleasing when then sites all had unique court floors. The standardized courts suck. Pitt playing on a weird Duquesne parquet floor - yes please. Remember when we played in Detroit and the court was like all black for Oakland lol? Again, I know no one cares, but it was better.

I remember way back in the day they played tournament games at the Pit and you got to see a cool arena that rarely got national pub.

 

[MorningCoffee13]

I’d much rather have some of the crazy Midwest fanbases than the blue bloods. When the A-10 would have their tourney here, Dayton fans would take over it seemed like and they were a great bunch. Very knowledgeable.

Conversely, when we’ve had Duke here or Nova it’s just a lot of arrogance. Nova fans aren’t as bad but the Duke fans in my section when they were last here were just unbearable.

The Duke fans were guys that drove down from Cranberry.