March Madness impacts small California businesses

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CBS, KYMA/KECY) - Scott Ford of the Downtown Sacramento Partnership is expecting a boomtown week for the central city.

"When you look at a multi-day event like the NCAA Tournament, you can expect the economic impacts to be in the 10's of millions of dollars to that region," Ford spoke.

This lines up with how this year has been so far for Downtown Commons (DOCO) and the surrounding areas.

"At the first quarter of 2023, we've already had four million visitors to downtown which is about 22% above where we were in 2022," Ford added.

As the NCAA Tournament comes into town, Midtown Gastro Pub is also gearing up.

"We are expecting to be very busy. We open our doors at 11:30 every day. We close at 10. We are also doing some specials because this March Madness crosses over with St. Patrick's Day so we're going to be theming there," said Lucas Osorios of Midtown Gastro Hub.

For an event like March Madness, Sacramento has something happening night after night.