The Week in TicketCity Search – Finally

TicketCity Week in Search

Week of
Apr. 1st
Previous
Week
Event
Searched
1 - Final Four
2 3 Pink
3 2 One Direction
4 5 Maroon 5
5 - Texas Rangers
6 1 Taylor Swift
7 - Kenny Chesney
8 4 Justin Bieber
9 - Bon Jovi
10 - Mumford & Sons

The Final Four tops the list as the championship is almost on top of us. With a single thing to search for, it makes it a lot easier for the title match-ups to make a dent on the list. In this case, the dent is pretty big. As the final match is on Monday, it may yet make the top ten next week as well.

Pink continues to climb the charts, and, outside of a popular national collegiate basketball championship, would have made it to the top this week. 1D remains in the top 3, ever the unflappable Englishmen. The official 2013 World Tour will be making the rounds in Europe this spring, and will hit the US in June.

Maroon 5′s dance card remains packed. The band’s current tour may be winding down, but they’ll be on the road again after a short break, headlining the Honda Civic Tour next fall.

To remind us that it is now, very officially, baseball season, the Rangers debut at #5 this week.

Taylor Swift’s recapture of the top spot was short lived, and she falls back to #6. The bottom five is where a similar fate awaited Justin Bieber, who dropped four spots to #8. A few returning favorites slip in there as well, with Kenny Chesney and Bon Jovi appearing after long absences.

Finally, another British band who aren’t exactly boys makes their countdown debut in the tenth spot. Mumford & Sons is a folk rock quartet out of London who exploded (in a folky fashion) into the US with the hit "Little Lion Man." Their Gentlemen of the Road Tour is playing two shows in a number of locations around the US, including the new Austin360 Amphitheater.

The Week in TicketCity Search – Taking Direction

TicketCity Week in Search

Week of
Mar. 26th
Previous
Week
Event
Searched
1 1 One Direction
2 3 Kid’s Choice Awards
3 2 Final Four
4 5 Drake
5 4 Justin Bieber
6 - Texas Rangers
7 8 Kentucky Derby
8 7 Bruce Springsteen
9 - Sony Ericsson Open
10 10 Masters Tournament

One Direction brutally crushed the competition again this week, in manner that does not befit a clean cut, non-threatening boy band. The Kid’s Choice Awards, most likely on the strength of a performance by that same boy band, arrives in second, and the biggest event in college basketball comes in third. The entire top five features the same events as last week, with just a couple swaps in position.

The bottom five isn’t much different either. Spring is in the air, and baseball follows soon after. Last season’s AL Champs, the Texas Rangers, start things off. Fans are ready for another shot at a World Series win this season.

Big spring events crowd the bottom five, with the Derby and Masters joined by the Sony Ericsson Open. Colloquially known as the Miami Open or Miami Masters, this tournament isn’t a Grand Slam, but it’s close. It is one of a small number of tournaments on the ATP tour with a draw larger than 64 players, other than the four Grand Slams. It’s a great way for value-minded tennis fans to see a big tournament without paying Grand Slam premium prices (or flying around the world).

Know Your NCAA Tourney Stadium: Dayton Arena, Verizon Center

The NCAA Tournament is chock-full of excitement from the first tip off. That’s why, sometimes, one of the more important items of the madness is overlooked: the stadiums. Well, not here at TicketCity – we cherish the stadiums that hold the games we love.

So, starting today, we are giving an overview of all the stadiums that will be (kinda) featured in the NCAA tournament. Because without them, all of our brackets would be busted from the go.

[Are you ready to go see some NCAA Tournament basketball? Then click here and get great seats to one of America’s premier events!]

University of Dayton Arena
For more than 40 years, the University of Dayton Arena has been one of the most consistently full venues in college basketball, so it’s no surprise that the building has been the home of all the opening round games of the NCAA Tournament since the change in format 10 years ago. Now, as the format expands once again to include four play-in games, the arena will once again play host to opening round games on March 15 and 16. 

The arena opened in 1969 and has since been considered one of the best places to watch a college game. With an intimate setting that still manages to hold 13,455, the location gives the University of Dayton a distinct home court advantage. Though it has remained largely unchanged since its inception, the facility underwent some renovation in 2002 to include nicer amenities and improved disabled access. 

The site has been the location of many historic events including the 2003 and 2004 Atlantic 10 Men’s Basketball Tournament and the first ever HDTV broadcast for ESPN in 2002.  It has hosted 83 games in the NCAA Tournament – tying it with the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri, for the most ever.

Verizon Center
Affectionately nicknamed the “Phone Booth,” the Verizon Center is a staple of downtown Washington, D.C. As the home of a number of professional and college teams including the Washington Wizards and Georgetown men’s basketball team, the venue can accommodate more than 20,000 spectators and will play host to the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament on March 17 and 19.

This marks the fifth time the Verizon Center has hosted NCAA Tournament games. In addition to first and second round games this year and in 1998, 2002 and 2008, it was the site of its own regional final in 2006, and it was there that one of the largest upsets in the tournament’s history took place. 

In the 2006 regional final played at the arena, the 11th-seeded George Mason Patriots knocked off the juggernaut top-seeded UConn Huskies to complete their improbable run to the Final Four. 

George Mason won 86-84 in an overtime thriller in front of a mostly pro-Patriot crowd that will live in the annals of college basketball history forever, along with the stunned face of UConn coach Jim Calhoun as Rashad Anderson’s game-winning three clanked off the rim at the buzzer.

More:
Know Your NCAA Tourney Stadium: McKale Center, Pepsi Center, St. Pete Times Forum 
Know Your NCAA Tourney Stadium: Quicken Loans Arena, Time Warner Cable Arena, United Center
Know Your NCAA Tourney Stadium: New Orleans Arena, Alamodome, Prudential Center
Know Your NCAA Tourney Stadium: Bank of Oklahoma Center, Honda Center

Kings Of Leon, NCAA Team Up For Final Four Concert

As if you didn’t have enough of a reason to go to Houston during Final Four wekend (April 1-4), Tenesseeans Kings of Leon are going to ‘volunteer’ a free show at the Discovery Green from 12-4 p.m. on Saturday, April 2. Their show is a part of a deal where “Kings of Leon’s song, “The Immortals,” will be at the center of a multi-platform marketing campaign to promote the 2011 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship.”

So, would you go to the concert before the Final Four, or would you save up your exceitment for the games? For a sample of what you’re in for if you do go, here’s a clip of KOL playing “The Immortals” live in Italy.

Kings Of Leon Playing Free Final Four Discovery Green Show [Houston Press]

The Week in TicketCity Search – April 2nd

Well, the basketball tournament that everyone is supposed to be following finally shows up this week. Yes, the Final Four is this weekend, and the NCAA Basketball Championship will be decided with a 5th seed guaranteed to be in the mix. While the NIT has been on the list for three weeks now, the Final Four has just arrived to the party. It brought a date, too; the Women’s Final Four slides in to round out the top 5.

The top 2 spots flipped, giving the esteemed Mr. Bieber the #1 position for the first time in his extended tenure on the countdown. One I admit was a bit longer than I anticipated. Lady Gaga follows with George Strait in tow at #3. In the bottom 5 we have 1 newcomer, a returning favorite, and where Taylor Swift, another list member with a lengthy tenure, is holding on.

Our newcomer #6 is Aubrey Drake Graham, who shortens thing up a bit and performs under the mononym Drake. The hip-hop hyphenate started as an actor on the show Degrassi: The Next Generation. Despite the name, I sense there were no Ferengi on this particular Next Generation. His new album is called Thank Me Later and is due out sometime this year. He’s currently on tour and will be playing Austin’s Stubbs BBQ at the end of May.

Current
Rank
Last
Week
Keyword
Searched
1 2 Justin Bieber
2 1 Lady Gaga
3 3 George Strait
4 - Final Four
5 - Womens Final Four
6 - Drake
7 6 NIT
8 - Masters
9 10 Elton John
10 5 Taylor Swift