By Maria Hickey, KWMU
St. Louis, MO. – A new study says the NCAA Final Four Basketball Tournament last spring had a more than $71 million impact on the St. Louis region.
The study was commissioned by the St. Louis Organizing Committee and conducted by a local economics professor.
Marc Schreiber is with the St. Louis Sports Commission. He says it could help convince businesses to support bringing another big sports event to the area.
"We haven't done a Final Four in a while, and now we're on the heels of going to bid again for another one and hopefully people look at this, remember the impact and are willing to come forward to help the effort the next time around, Schreiber said.
The city will be able to bid next summer for the 2012 to 2015 Final Fours.
Tournament crowds spent about $47 million in direct spending, with the rest spent by businesses and employees in turn.