March Madness comes to San Francisco with Sweet 16 games at Chase Center. Here's what to know.
The Chase Center in San Francisco hosts the NCAA Tournament for the second time in the arena's brief history this week as two Sweet 16 games are played on the Warriors' home court.
NCAA Tournament games have been played in the Bay Area dating back to the first college basketball tournament ever in 1939 when the West Regional contest was played at the California Coliseum, part of the Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island. The Tournament wouldn't return to the region until both Stanford (Burnham Pavilion in 1953) and Cal (Haas Pavilion in 1958) hosted opening-round games and the Cow Palace was used as a game site in 1955 and 1958-1960.
Both the Oakland Arena and SAP Center in San Jose have held tournament games in the the modern era starting in 1990 through the 2010s, with the West Regional coming to the Chase Center in 2022.
The first game scheduled on Thursday will be between No. 1 Seed Florida and No. 4 Seed Maryland. That game is set to start at 4:39 p.m. The Gators made some headlines due to coach Todd Golden
initially getting shut out
when he tried to make a reservation for the team at his favorite San Francisco restaurant, Original Joe's (he was eventually
able to make arrangements
there for Tuesday night). The real story for Florida is guard Walter Clayton Jr., who became the school's first-ever first-team All American and keyed Florida's comeback win over UConn. The Terrapins boast a gifted starting five (known as the "Crab Five," a play on the University of Michigan's "Fab Five" squad in 1991) that includes rising star Derik Queen (whose buzzer-beater lifted Maryland over Colorado State 72-71) and Julian Reese, the brother of current WNBA star Angel Reese.
The second game scheduled for 7:09 p.m. Thursday pits No. 3 Seed Texas Tech against one of the tournament's Cinderella stories, No. 10 Seed Arkansas. The Red Raiders are led by Big 12 Player of the Year JT Toppin, who is projected to be first-round NBA draft pick. Despite their low seed, the Razorbacks are one of the most talented teams in the tournament and boast another candidate for future NBA star in Boogie Fland.
The winners of these two Thursday games will advance to face each other on Saturday, March, 29, with the winner of that contest moving on to the Final Four.
Tickets for the games on Thursday
start at around $117 per seat in the upper sections of the Chase Center, with resale seats in the courtside sections going for anywhere from almost $900 to over $5,000. Pricing for Saturday's
Elite Eight game
starts slightly higher at around $138 per ticket, but tops out at a more modest $2,500 as of Wednesday evening. There are also
premium suites available
and
NCAA Fan Experience packages
starting at $275 per ticket.
While there is not a planned viewing party for the games being played at Chase Center on Thursday and Saturday, there will be men's college basketball on the big screen outside the arena on Friday and Sunday. The
viewing sessions
begin at 9 a.m. and will feature the simultaneous broadcast of all the big games on the split-screen plaza board. The event is scheduled to go until 9 p.m. Tickets for the viewing party on Friday are free, but those who have
RSVP registrations through Eventbrite
will receive priority admission until capacity is reached. A limited amount of walk-ups may be available. Space is limited and will be first-come, first-served.
While there will be parking available on some city streets and area garages near Chase Center, the venue is easily accessible via
Muni
,
BART
,
Caltrain
, and the
ferry
. Muni will also run additional S-shuttle trains and express bus service between Chase Center and 16th St Mission BART station starting 2.5 hours before and 1 hour after games. Basketball fans attending the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games can show their game ticket at Muni fare gates and boarding platforms to ride without additional charge. Both electronic and physical tickets for the tournament games will serve as proof of payment for Muni service throughout the day. Keep your tickets handy to show to station agents or transit fare inspectors. More information for the program is available at the
Chase Center fare page
.
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