Birmingham continues to reap benefits from upgrades to Legacy Arena. The latest dividend comes this week with Sweet 16 and Elite Eight rounds of the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament.

Tad Snider, executive director of the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center Authority, said it all goes back to the 2018 upgrades made to Legacy Arena at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex.

Those upgrades led the BJCC Authority to partner with the Southeastern Conference to host the Men’s First and Second Round Basketball Tournament in 2023 and now the Women’s Regional.

The BJCC previously hosted the NCAA Women’s Mideast Regional in 2001.

“We wouldn’t be having either one of those events without being able to execute on that plan to update and modernize Legacy Arena,” Snider said.

Unlike the men’s tournament, which had two sessions of play over three days, this week’s women’s event has four sessions with play on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

Session 1, Friday, 4:30 p.m.: Duke vs. North Carolina; South Carolina vs. Maryland.

Session 2, Saturday, noon: Texas Christian vs. Notre Dame; Texas vs. Tennessee.

Session 3, Sunday, noon: Winners of Friday’s games.

Session 4, Monday, 6 p.m.: Winners of Saturday’s games.

Snider said the men’s tournament brought money to the metro area. Citing information from the Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau, he said the economic impact from the 2023 first and second round men’s tournament was about $14 million.

“I would expect going into this weekend with the teams that we have and that we’ve got some more games, that number would increase slightly,” the BJCC executive director said, “In excess of $14 million of economic impact is a fair estimate going in.”

Snider admitted that he had an eye on Monday’s tournament game between Maryland and the University of Alabama. The Terrapins outlasted the Crimson Tide 111-108 in double overtime.

“I wish Alabama were here,” Snider said. “I think having that in-state tie-in certainly just adds to the local buzz, for sure. We wish they were here, but it’s still going to be a great tournament and regional rounds here. Whoever’s advancing out of Birmingham, I just have to think there’s gonna be a lot of great basketball players.”

Krystle Johnson, an Alabama alumnae and coach of the Hoover High School girls basketball team, echoed that sentiment.

“There would have been a lot of good things with Alabama in the building,” said Johnson, whose Bucs have won the past five Class 7A state championships in a row at Legacy Arena. “Obviously, Alabama would have drawn a really big crowd being in their home state.

“It doesn’t take anything from the tournament,” the coach said, “but, obviously as a Bama alum, I would have loved for them to have been here and been able to go down there and cheer for them as they try to upset South Carolina.”

The Gamecocks of the Southeastern Conference are the defending national champions.

While there is no home-team advantage, in-state fans will find a rooting interest. Reniya Kelly, a 2023 Hoover High alumnae, plays for North Carolina; and Muscle Shoals High product Sara Puckett plays for Tennessee.

Johnson said the Bucs will certainly be in the building.

“I will for sure be there,” she said. “I hadn’t really checked as far as tickets are concerned because some of the people already had tickets before they even knew which teams are gonna be here. A lot of them already bought those tickets but I’m sure there will be a good majority of us being in the building, especially with Reniya being in town.”

Snider said about 30,000 tickets have been sold for the tournament.

Fans will notice a difference as they make their way into Legacy Arena with a fan zone between the arena and Boutwell Auditorium.

“That was one thing in 2023 because those sessions sold out quickly,” Snider said. “Maybe there was not as much attention to the outside-the-venue experience as maybe we could have. Going into 2025, that was one of the priorities.

“There’s going to be a fan fest that’s open to all the fans for free to come experience,” the executive director continued. “That’s kind of a key part of it. We’re doing some things outside the venue in terms of street banners and banners on the sides of buildings now, just to create some of that overall sense of destination and sense of place around the tournament.”