SAN ANTONIO — An aging Alamodome could again host the Final Four with a little help from San Antonio residents, the City Council and some river barges and cheerleaders.
The San Antonio Express-News reports that a public rally will be held Wednesday at Rivercenter Mall — an event designed to impress the men's basketball Final Four selection committee, which is in town Monday through Wednesday.
"We wanted to showcase one of the unique events we have in the River Rally," San Antonio Sports Vice President Jenny Carnes said. "It's a great fan experience. And we wanted to give the site-selection members a glimpse of what makes San Antonio so unique."
San Antonio hasn't hosted a Final Four since 2008, and the 21-year-old dome is one of the oldest buildings among the contenders. The City Council is reviewing a renovation plan to address the committee's concerns about the aging stadium during a previous bidding cycle. Planned upgrades include expanding the concourse, north plaza and loading dock. Officials also propose renovating the locker rooms.
Organizers say losing the event after hosing it for more than a decade was a sobering experience.
"It was a huge disappointment for us, especially coming off what we had done in 2008," Carnes said. "To hear they didn't want to come back was hard to swallow. But it was a lesson learned. We learned from what happened."
Selection committee members will be on site to inspect the stadium and gauge public support for the event. The NCAA will announce in November which cities will host the games from 2017 to 2020. Other places seeking upcoming Final Fours include Atlanta, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, New Orleans, the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Phoenix-Glendale and St. Louis. All but the Arizona cities have hosted the event previously.
"I think this will be a hard decision for the committee, specifically because each city has its own assets and all of them are very different," said Andy Arnold, the NCAA's assistant director of the Division I men's basketball staff. "An outsider might think that all of the competition venues are about the same, but they end up being very different for a variety of reasons."