We’re hours away from the first of two Final Four games at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indy. While I won’t bore anyone with my brackets (not submitted, thus meaningless), I suggest the Final Four was a major sporting event worth attending.

The Final Four is like the Super Bowl in that thousands of fans consider it an annual travel destination regardless of the participants. The addicts purchase tickets or the right to purchase seats almost immediately after the final whistle on Monday night. As one who blogs about ballparks and the overall experience and not just the outcomes, I don’t know how many unique professional football and basketball arenas still exist. Madison Square Garden and Lambeau Field immediately come to mind as “must visit}”, but I can’t think of many others.

My Aunt and Uncle were among those who annually attended the Final Four with friends and I was lucky enough to join them as a college sophomore in 1985. The setting, Rupp Arena (home of the Kentucky Wildcats) in Lexington Kentucky. While I wasn’t in full arena/ballpark appreciation mode, I recall that the size of Rupp was ideal for a college game (capacity 20,500) and that there wasn’t a bad seat in the house. Other than a bonus night in a Cincinnati hotel and some ticket selling, I don’t remember much about Lexington proper. I also don’t recall there being too much marketing or seeing anyone beyond the four participating fan bases.

Flash forward to March of 1995, when I attended my second and final Final Four in Seattle at the 40,000 seat Kingdome. The entire experience was bigger and more commercial. It’s the only time I’ve been to Seattle and I felt I made the most of my three and a half days. The official hotel of the NCAA and coaches convention was the hub of activity and area bars and restaurants made the most of the captive audience. There was plenty of swag available for purchase and future resale. Unfortunately, what I also remember was how poorly suited baseball and football stadiums are for college basketball games. The court itself looked as big as a postage stamp and players were equally hard to eyeball from the upper levels.

This year’s event is in the easy to navigate Indianapolis, but Lucas presents its own issues based on its being a football stadium. The seating capacity for hoops is roughly 70,000 and based on my experience at the Sweet Sixteen in 2013, a miserable experience for those in the upper regions. However, with two old school Big Ten teams, Illinois and Michigan, it’s an exceptional site for those fans. Lucas is the current home for the Big Ten Football Championship. Current students of both schools should be flocking there by the thousands. Good seats are about as important to undergrads as clean dorm rooms. It’s all about being there and how you got there.

As they’re not going back to smaller arenas, I’ll enjoy the Final Four from the comfort of Casa de Bob.