COLUMBUS, Ohio — Out of the eight cities to host games in the first two rounds of the men’s NCAA Tournament, Columbus can claim to have the best attendance.
According to the Greater Columbus Sports Commission, the city sold 58,694 tickets at Nationwide Arena, more than any other host city. Both Friday sessions sold 19,564 tickets while the single Sunday session had 19,566.
That means Columbus outsold other sites which included Albany, Birmingham, Denver, Des Moines, Greensboro, Orlando and Sacramento.
This year was the third time Columbus hosted men’s tournament games since 2015.
One of the six games played at Nationwide Arena included No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson’s win over No. 1 seed Purdue. It was just the second time ever a 16 seed beat the top seed.
Sunday saw another upset as No. 7 seed Michigan State knocked off No. 2 seed Marquette to advance to the Sweet 16.
Columbus was also host to first and second round games of the women’s NCAA Tournament as Ohio State played two games in front of their hometown fans at the Schottenstein Center.
The Buckeyes came back to defeat James Madison in the opener before punching a ticket back to the Sweet 16 with a last-second shot from Jacy Sheldon to beat UNC.