When hundreds of delegates to the U.S. Conference of Mayors and their family members visited Providence last summer, few of them made it to Murphy’s Deli & Bar on Fountain Street.
The attendees’ itinerary was too crowded for a stop at the downtown landmark just a block away from the R.I. Convention Center. For Murphy’s owner Ruth Ferrazzano, the high-profile event was a disappointment.
But she’s betting things will be different when thousands of college basketball fans flood Providence late this month for the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center on March 18 and 20.
Murphy’s already has received permission to shut down one-way Mathewson Street, between Fountain and Washington streets, on March 17 through 21. Ferrazzano plans to set up a bar and grills outside under tents and maybe even hire an Irish band.
It’s an investment Ferrazzano is certain will pay off.
“For us, there is nothing better than a bunch of sports fans,” she said last week. “They’re not here to conduct business; they’re not sitting in seminars and conferences. They want to have a good time; they have a different agenda.”
Like Murphy’s, other businesses – particularly those in the hospitality industry – are gearing up for the arrival of players, coaches, officials and fans as early as March 15.
About 80 people recently attended the Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau workshops for restaurants, hotels and merchants to learn the finer points of the tournament, such as the NCAA’s tight control over trademarks such as March Madness and Road to the Final Four.
Five hotels in Providence and three others in Warwick already have been selected to host the eight teams, accounting for 3,601 room nights between March 16 and 22. And that’s not counting the fans who will follow their teams to Providence.
Just how many fans will be coming is not clear yet, adding to the difficulty of estimating economic impact. Martha Sheridan, president and CEO of the convention bureau, said it’s impossible to know how many people will be drawn to the tournament site until after Selection Sunday, March 14, when qualifying teams and their sites are announced.
Providence is one of eight sites nationwide hosting the first two rounds of the annual 65-team tournament. Six nationally televised games will be played at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center – four on Thursday, March 18, and another two on Saturday, March 20.
Selection Sunday is nearly as important to local hospitality officials as it is to the teams that might be invited to participate. The convention bureau is holding an invitation-only gathering at McFadden’s Restaurant & Saloon. Once the teams and locations are announced officials will kick preparations into full gear.
At the Hilton Garden Inn on Jefferson Boulevard in Warwick, general manager Kevin Buchanan was hoping to deck out his staff in the uniform shirts – or least have them wearing the school colors – of the team his hotel hosts. The NCAA already has reserved 60 of the hotel’s 130 rooms.
The hotels can use the boost. With business travel down and economic uncertainty cutting into the leisure market, the Ocean State’s average daily room rate was down nearly 12 percent in 2009, and the occupancy rate fell, too.
At the Westin Providence, the rooms are booked solid for those days during the tournament, as are other downtown hotels.
The city’s newest downtown hotel, the Hampton Inn & Suites, wasn’t open when the contracts with the NCAA were finalized, so it won’t be officially hosting a team.
But the hotel is expecting to take advantage just the same.
Regional manager Michael Buddemeyer drafted his own NCAA Tournament brackets and came up with about 15 possible teams for Providence, according to sales director Elaine Murphy.
The hotel sales staff has reached out to athletic directors and other officials at those schools, and that effort already might be paying dividends.
Murphy said reservations for that week are up, and the hotel is close to fully booked for Saturday, March 20. That said, she knows there will be some cancellations when the teams are announced.
Providence Place mall could be a big beneficiary of the free time. After all, the mall is connected by a sky bridge to the Westin, the headquarters for the media and NCAA staff.
Much like for conventions and conferences that visit Providence, the convention bureau has assembled goodie bags of gifts and coupons from local businesses for the teams’ entourages.
One of the contributors to those goodie bags, David Riordan, owner of the gift store Oop! on Westminster Street, said that was the extent of his marketing for the tournament crowd.
Riordan acknowledged that he didn’t expect to do as well as the hotels and restaurants during the tournament. “But we should see an increase in business from the … foot traffic,” he added.
Lisa Paratore, owner of Home Style, a curated gift and home-goods shop also on Westminster, wasn’t holding out hope that someone visiting the city for a basketball tournament would be interested in making a purchase at her store.
The positive effects of the tournament could be longer term, in the form of visitors returning to see more of the area. “Providence doesn’t need an advocate once people have come here,” she said.
Eateries with televisions, sandwiches and beer are expecting crowds not only before and after the day’s sports action, but in between games, too. The NCAA does not allow the sale of alcohol at the games.
Restaurateurs such as Joshua Miller, who owns Trinity Brewhouse and Local 121, are looking to capitalize.
Miller is seeking to use the open space next to Trinity Brewhouse on Fountain Street to accommodate what he expects will be excess crowds. He also is planning to add about 20 temporary workers.
He said revenue has been up slightly year over year at Trinity, but recent purchases of equipment such as new refrigeration have eaten into profits.
“This will get us back to where we should be,” he said. •
