4 Days Away: March Madness in Birmingham and What You Need to Know
What teams are playing in Birmingham?
We are just 4 days away from the NCAA Basketball Tournament and the 64 college teams have been selected. Out of the 64 teams, 8 will descend to Birmingham this week to get ready to play in the newly renovated Legacy Arena on March 16th and 18th.
Teams in Birmingham
Alabama, SE Missouri ST or Texas A&M-CC, Maryland, West Virginia, Houston, Northern Kentucky, Iowa and Auburn.
A crowd of 15,847 fans are expected to pack into Legacy Arena. Tickets are on sale through ticketmaster.com. Get in prices start at $59.50 for Session 1 and $89.50 for Session 2 on Thursday. Round 2 on Saturday starts at $185.50.
How should I get there?
Carefully. If you live within 15 minutes of Legacy Arena, try to Uber to Uptown. If you have to drive, . there are more than 10,000 parking sports within a 10 minute walk of Legacy Arena. As far as parking lots go, here are the top 3 options:
Boutwell Garage (BPA Deck 2) holds 1400 spaces
Blue Garage (2068 11th Ave N) 1800 spaces
Red Garage (Eugene’s Hot Chicken) 1400 spaces
Arrive early and uber if you can.
How are the food options?
You are going to want to avoid concessions at Legacy Arena as much as possible. The transactions take a long time and the workers are usually learning on the job. As far as food in walking distance of Legacy Arena, here are your top 4 options:
Eugenes Hot Chicken (not a lot of seating but great chicken and they sell beer)
Casey’s Sports Bar (inside the Westin)
Uptown Catina
Mugshots Grill and Bar
As we saw yesterday at Protective Stadium, the BJCC is bad at operating concessions. The sooner you accept that, the more at peace you will be.
Alabama and Auburn in Birmingham. What a time to be alive.
