March Madness Budweiser Gardens Style
Did you know the roots of basketball are firmly embedded in Canadian history?! The game was invented in 1891 by Dr. James Naismith who was a Canadian living in the United States at the time. Fast-forward 50 years later to a time when basketball began to boom throughout high schools both in Canada and the United States and the term “March Madness” began to linger.
The term traces back to the Illinois’ statewide high school basketball tournament where an official was so impressed by the phenomenon that he decided to publish an article to commemorate it, titled March Madness. From that day onward the term has been synonymous with this great sport!
Budweiser Gardens may not be hosting the 2018 NCAA men’s division basketball tournament, but we will be having a lot of madness around our building in March! Here’s why:
March is set to be one of the busiest months of the year for us here at Budweiser Gardens as we gear up for 15 shows, 3 London Knights hockey games and playoffs and 2 London Lightning basketball games. We kicked off the first four days of March with 8 magical Disney On Ice shows. The ice took approximately 36 hours to freeze to ensure it was thick enough for the entertainers to safely skate on. It is estimated that we used 8,000 to 9,000 gallons of water plus another 225 gallons of white ice paint for this event! All of the hard work and effort was worth it as it was another magical event!
Next up we have a highly anticipated show with Our Lady Peace and Matthew Good! Did you know Our Lady Peace was the first concert held at Budweiser Gardens in 2002 to a sold out crowed!
By the end of March, we will have 15 changeovers which equates to about 86 hours of man power… that’s almost 4 full days! Our event floor will be laid down and taken up a total of 14 times, which will end up covering 238,000 square feet of total decking! In addition to this, our hockey glass will be removed and installed 13 times, which is the equivalent of using 1209 pieces of acrylic hockey glass.
Whether you’re showing your spirit at a Knights game, cheering on the Lightning or attending a concert, we know that a hot piece of pizza or a buttery bag of popcorn will make your experience even better! Within the month of March we expect to go through approximately 3,200 pounds of raw popcorn kernels and about 3,600 hot dogs! We also know how much our patrons love pizza, which is why we will be cooking up approximately 1,225 full pizzas for a total of 7,300 slices!
Here at Budweiser Gardens we strive to give you the absolute best in sports and entertainment. We are excited to welcome over 70,000 patrons this coming month, making it our own version of March madness!
If you want to be part of the madness you can by your tickets by clicking HERE.
March Madness Schedule
Thursday – Sunday March 1st – 4th: Disney On Ice
Wednesday March 7th: London Knights vs. Guelph Storm
Friday March 9th: London Knights vs. Eerie Otters
Saturday March 10th: Our Lady Peace & Matthew Good
Sunday March 11th: WWE Road To Wrestlemania
Thursday March 15th: London Lightening vs. Cape Breton Highlanders
Friday March 16th: London Knights vs. Sarnia Sting
Saturday March 17th: Letterkenny Live!
Saturday – Sunday March 24th – 25th: Wizard Of Oz
Tuesday March 27th: Judas Priest
Wednesday March 28th: London Lightening vs. Windsor Express
Saturday March 31st: Rod Stewart