St Pete Times Forum - March Madness 2008 - March Madness

The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single elimination tournament held each spring featuring 65 college basketball teams in the United States. Colloquially known as March Madness (as the tournament takes place mainly during the month of March) or the Big Dance (as opposed to the now smaller and less prestigious NIT), the tournament takes place over 3 weeks at sites across the United States, and the national semifinals (the Final Four) have become one of the nation's most prominent sporting events.
Since its 1939 inception (a brainchild of Phog Allen at the University of Kansas), it has built a legacy that includes dynasty teams and dramatic underdog stories. In recent years, friendly wagering on the event has become something of a national pastime, spawning countless "office pools" that attract expert fans and novices alike. All games of the tournament are broadcast on the CBS broadcast television network in the United States, except for the Opening Round game (or "play-in game" as it has been called), which aired on TNN in 2001, and ESPN since 2002.

The tournament bracket is made up of conference tournament champions from each Division I conference, which receive automatic bids. The remaining slots are at-large berths, with teams chosen by an NCAA selection committee. The selection process and tournament seedings are based on several factors, including team rankings, win-loss records and RPI data.
Two low-seeded teams (typically teams with poor records that qualified by winning their conference tournament championships) play the "opening round" game to determine which will advance into the first round of the tournament, with the winner advancing to play the top seed in one of the four regions. The opening Round game was added in 2001 and has been played in University of Dayton Arena in Dayton, Ohio each subsequent year. The opening round is considered part of the tournament and is often referred to as a "play-in" game.

The St. Pete Times Forum is an arena in Tampa, Florida, that is used for hockey games, basketball games, arena football games, and concerts.

The St. Pete Times Forum is currently home to the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning and the Tampa Bay Storm of the Arena Football League.

The venue, located in Downtown Tampa's Channelside District was a secondary location chosen after the failure of Tampa Coliseum Inc. to secure funding to construct an arena on Tampa Sports Authority land near Tampa Stadium.

The St. Pete Times Forum opened in 1996 as the Ice Palace. The arena was built as a new home for the Lightning to replace the Thunderdome in St. Petersburg, Florida, which is now known as the Tropicana Field and needed to be renovated back to its original purpose: a baseball stadium which now houses the Tampa Bay Rays. Upon the completion of the Ice Palace, both the Lightning and the Tampa Bay Storm, also a tenant of the Thunderdome, moved in and have made it their home since then.

The St. Pete Times Forum officially opened on October 20, 1996, as the Lightning hosted the New York Rangers. The Lightning were victorious in the game by a score of 5-2.

Control of the venue has changed hands three times since the building's opening in 1996. The lease agreement ties the arena to the ownership of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Currently Palace Sports and Entertainment (owned by billionaire William Davidson) operates the venue, and has held control since summer 1999 when Davidson purchased the Lightning from then-owner Art Williams.

On Sunday, March 16, the 65-team bracket for the 2008 NCAA� Division I Men's Basketball Championship� will be announced at 5pm CST on CBS.
Tune in to all the 2008 Championship action on CBS beginning Thursday, March 20. The Opening Round game will be broadcast live on ESPN on Tuesday, March 18.
Game times will be confirmed and announced no later than 3:30pm on Monday afternoon, March 17 on.................................................. www.NCAAsports.com.

March 18, 2008
UD Arena
Dayton, Ohio
Host: University of Dayton
UD Arena Concierge

March 20 and 22, 2008
Honda Center
Anaheim, California
Host: Big West Conference
Honda Center Concierge

Pepsi Center
Denver, Colorado
Hosts: Colorado State University
Pepsi Center Concierge

Qwest Center Omaha
Omaha, Nebraska
Hosts: Creighton University
Qwest Center Omaha Concierge

Verizon Center
Washington, D.C.
Host: Georgetown University
Verizon Center Concierge

March 21 and 23, 2008
BJCC Arena
Birmingham, Alabama
Host: Southeastern Conference
BJCC Arena Concierge

Alltel Arena
Little Rock, Arkansas
Host: University of Arkansas
Alltel Arena Concierge

RBC Center
Raleigh, North Carolina
Host: North Carolina State University
RBC Center Concierge

St. Pete Times Forum
Tampa, Florida
Host: University of South Florida
St Pete Times Forum Concierge

March 27 and 29, 2008

East Regional
Charlotte Bobcats Arena
Charlotte, North Carolina
Host: University of North Carolina
Charlotte Arena Concierge

West Regional
US Airways Center
Phoenix, Arizona
Host: Arizona State University
US Airways Center Concierge

March 28 and 30, 2008

Midwest Regional
Ford Field
Detroit, Michigan
Host: University of Detroit Mercy
Ford Field Concierge

South Regional
Reliant Stadium
Houston, Texas
Host: University of Houston and Rice
Reliant Stadium Concierge

Final Four: April 5 and 7, 2008
Alamodome
San Antonio, Texas
Host: Univ. of Texas-San Antonio
Alamodome Concierge

Naming rights to the Ice Palace were sold to the St. Petersburg Times, a daily newspaper which circulates throughout the Tampa Bay area. Other entertainment events occasionally held in the Forum include concerts, NBA exhibition games, USF Basketball and NCAA Tournament games, tennis, professional wrestling, boxing, figure skating, and rodeos.

The building played host to the 1999 NHL All-Star Game, World Wrestling Federation Survivor Series 2000, and first and second round games of the 2003 NCAA men's basketball tournament.