Basketball’s impact on KC is anyone’s not-very-educated guess

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Downtown Kansas City’s college basketball season wraps up tonight, when Pikeville and Mountain State play in the final of the NAIA Division I men’s basketball tournament at Municipal Auditorium. Earlier this month, Kansas City hosted the Big 12 men’s and women’s tournaments.

Though tall people in sweatsuits continue to roam the streets, tourism officials have already put a dollar figure on March basketball’s economic impact. Officials at the Kansas City Convention and Visitors Association report that the 16 days of hoops have been worth $19 million. But calling that figure an educated guess is an insult to the process of acquiring knowledge.