CLEVELAND — On any given day, four out of five visitors to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame are from out of town, a number that the Men's NCAA Basketball Tournament pushes even higher.
Many of the people we ran on Friday were first-time visitors to the city, folks like Vanderbilt alum Ben Donohoe of Washington, D.C., who, when his team made the dance, knew he had to go.
"Oh, I mean, as soon as we figured out we were going to the tournament, I knew I was going to be off Thursday, Friday, and when they announced the site, I booked a flight that night," Donohoe said.
The same is true for the Tillerys of New Mexico.
"So last Sunday when they announced that they were going to be playing in the tournament... we booked our flights and a hotel room that same night," said Glen Tillery, a New Mexico fan.
We actually ran into several of them, like Tomas Jimenez and Mark Costales of Albuquerque, who were nothing if not positive about what they'd seen and hoped to see.
"We're from New Mexico, he's never seen the Lobos in the NCAA Tournament," Jimenez said of Costales. "So now we're going to watch them win by 40," he laughed.
It's a steady stream the Rock Hall expects to see throughout the weekend in and around the games, which aren't the only draw.
"It's Comic Con in Downtown Cleveland; it's the beginning of spring break, so we will see an influx of fans of travelers of tourists," said Rock Hall Director of Fan Engagement John Goehrke.
So will the folks at the "A Christmas Story House and Museum," a must-see for Stephen Pina from Albuquerque.
"Big movie in my household when I was a child. My mother loved it, and I did too, so had to come down here," he said.
Like the others, his first trip to Cleveland was last minute, but Jonathan Kasen from Miami mapped his out with his buddies a year ago as part of an annual tournament getaway.
"We try not to repeat the same places we've been to, so we've been all over the country. We hadn't been to Cleveland, so we said we'll take a shot," Kasen said. "I felt the downtown was beautiful. The baseball stadium was quite nice, unlike the Miami Marlins arena where it's literally surrounded by nothing. I thought it was quite nice."
Eric Albert and his son Eli of Connecticut made their first father-son trip to Cleveland a two-fer.
"We went and looked at Case Western; he's a high school kid looking at colleges," said Eric Albert.
This is the first time the city has hosted the men's tournament in a decade. They were slated to be here in 2020, but those games were canceled because of COVID. There's $8 million in direct spending around the games. Dollars that Mark Costales said he doesn't mind parting with as long as his team wins.
"Hopefully, we'll be here Sunday to watch the Lobos after they win," he said.
