photo by: Mike Yoder

Jayhawk fans storm Massachusetts Street in downtown Lawrence after the KU men’s basketball team defeated North Carolina and won the National Championship Monday, April 4, 2022.

While brackets made for the NCAA Tournament may be going bust over the first weekend with crazy upsets and buzzer beating shots, the tournament can serve as a boom for college basketball hubs like Lawrence.

Of course, regular season Kansas Jayhawk gamedays bring a lot of people to the town during the regular season, but the excitement of the 68-team tournament colloquially called March Madness brings a whole other energy, according to Steve Kelly, the vice president of economic development for the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce.

As millions of people across the country tune into the NCAA Tournament, Kelly said closer to home, the heightened intensity of the win-or-go-home games bring an increase of local spending and creates an atmosphere throughout the city that creates additional energy.

“Tournament games like this, it creates a higher level because it’s the end of things,” Kelly said. “It heightens the interest and excitement around the games.”

And that level of energy increases the further that Kansas advances in the tournament. Although Jayhawk fans’ eyes will be on San Diego this weekend for the first and second round games, the attention and success that KU men’s basketball brings to Lawrence can’t be overstated, according to local leaders like Kelly, but the wins and losses can go far beyond public pride — it can help build the university and bring in businesses and visitors.

While Kelly said that those successes can seem superficial, the energy created by the sporting success — especially in a place crucial to the history of basketball — can become a positive multiplier for both the people of Lawrence and the future of the University of Kansas.

Kim Anspach, the executive director of Explore Lawrence, said when the ball is tipped and March Madness gets underway, the town “leans into its deep basketball history and legacy” with its marketing.

Anspach said that visitation to Lawrence is typically strong in March, but during the tournament, the visitors bureau aims to “highlight the full visitor experience” for sports fans. That includes providing recommendations for the best places to watch a game around town and highlighting basketball-related attractions at KU like the DeBruce Center, which houses the original copy of the 13 basic rules of basketball written up by James Naismith, and the Booth Family Hall of Athletics.

photo by: Sara Shepherd

James Naismith’s original rules of “Basket Ball” are displayed inside the DeBruce Center on the University of Kansas campus. Lighted quotes on the wall across from the rules are reflected in the display case glass.

Of course, part of the reason why Lawrence is so well known as a hub for basketball is because of the history of KU. With founders like Naismith and Phog Allen, it has been known as a national brand for basketball since the inception of college basketball as a sport. That status is huge for both the town and university, according to Matt Tidwell, a professor at the University of Kansas’s William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

Tidwell teaches sports marketing at KU, and one phrase in his class he’ll mention is the idea of some college athletic brands being a “national brand.” People can identify schools like Duke, North Carolina and KU “beyond just the local communities” as basketball schools — in the same way that for college football, people know schools like Notre Dame or Alabama. That kind of status is really coveted, and institutions and cities that can capitalize on that status “get as much mileage out of it” as possible, according to Tidwell.

It’s that kind of national branding that helps make the experiences so unique in Lawrence, and even more heightened on NCAA Tournament game days, according to Anspach. These special occasions make it an easy selling point for people around the community or from across the country.

“There is an energy to the season that draws people in, including fans, alumni, and visitors who want to experience a place where basketball history is part of the community’s identity,” Anspach said.

Kelly said these postseason games provide an opportunity for restaurants and bars to see a spike in sales, and the buzz of the games create additional foot traffic for other downtown businesses. The attraction of the tournament games can decide to visit Lawrence even if they are casual fans because they “know it will be hopping,” according to Kelly.

The other difference with the NCAA Tournament compared to regular season games is that the excitement can “snowball” as the team progresses further, Kelly said. Each win in the tournament leads to “more momentum and energy around the (next) game,” and it can really build communal happiness around town.

Those feelings were most clear during KU’s most recent championship runs in men’s basketball in 2008 and 2022. The 2022 championship, won in thrilling fashion against another blue blood basketball team in the North Carolina Tar Heels, Kelly said the team had a “magical trip.” After some early season adversity — and a team that had “hometown heroes” like Kansas-native Christian Braun and Kansas City-native Ochai Agbaji — even casual fans got caught up in the excitement.

“You feel like you’re a part of something,” Kelly said. “It was a real sense of pride not only for the university community but the people in Lawrence, too.”

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Kansas basketball players Christian Braun, left, and Dajuan Harris celebrate with the crowd at the Kansas Basketball National Championship parade on Sunday, April 10, 2022.

While Lawrence and KU students celebrated that national title, the university also capitalized on its success. Tidwell said that schools that have big victories or surprising runs in the NCAA Tournament can experience a “significant bump” in attention that can lead to more applications and enrollment.

This situation was dubbed the “Flutie Effect” after a Hail Mary pass by Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie led to the Eagles upsetting the highly ranked Miami Hurricanes in football in 1984. The college saw a significant increase in applications the following year, with some attributing that success to Flutie. One 2009 study suggested that schools that reach the men’s NCAA Tournament receive on average a 1% increase in applications the next year, with a higher percentage for each round they advance.

Tidwell said that at KU, there was discussion around campus the school experienced an enrollment bump, but he did not have exact numbers. Still, the university has announced record enrollment for two straight years, and Tidwell suggested some of that could be because of the increased exposure.

Tidwell said schools — even nationally known ones like KU — are in front of millions of eyeballs during the NCAA tournament, which could have an impact for prospective high school students thinking about where they might want to apply to college. If they are watching KU have athletic success, they might “begin to investigate” and suddenly KU pops up as a potential option, Tidwell said.

Normally, being in front of millions of people for an ad is expensive, but winning a national title with a furious comeback with “Kansas” stitched on every jersey?

“You can’t buy that kind of exposure,” Tidwell said.

Kelly said that people want to be around success and positive things by nature. If the Jayhawks have a strong season, people around KU feel positive. That spills into the rest of Lawrence, creating a good atmosphere and good branding in the city as well. Having a great city with the amenities that Lawrence has boosts KU as a destination, and so on and so on. Tying those successes together — of Lawrence and the Jayhawks — is something he sees as important in recruiting not just people, but businesses to the community.

“It can seem superficial, (but) if one team does well and plays in a way that elicits support, that does have an impact on people,” Kelly said.

While a disappointing loss in the tournament won’t mean an automatic recession for Lawrence, the temporary boost from the buzz of the NCAA Tournament helps bring the town to life. The lively atmosphere helps more people see Lawrence as a destination, and can be an asset to KU.

“People want to be in a place where excitement and good things are happening,” Kelly said. “(The Jayhawks) really give everyone something to rally behind.”