Chicago hotel can’t contain the KU March Madness

By Mark Fagan     Mar 15, 2007

The Westin Michigan Avenue features 751 guest rooms, 23 suites and a prominent standing on Chicago’s famed Magnificent Mile.

But it’s not big enough for an onslaught of KU fans.

While the official team hotel for the top-seeded Kansas Jayhawks rates as the finest of team accommodations in Chicago for the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament, its public lobby simply wouldn’t be able to accommodate Friday’s official pregame pep rally.

“There is absolutely no room at the Westin,” said Mike Davis, senior vice president for the KU Alumni Association, who will be staying in the hotel at 909 N. Michigan Ave. “We’ll have a ton of people show up. We could have 600, 700, 800 people show up for a pep rally.”

And that means taking the show – and the KU pep band, spirit squad, Big Jay and everyone else associated with the rally – across East Delaware Place to the iconic John Hancock Center, a 100-story edifice whose giant diagonal braces form large Xs climbing the tapered building’s exterior.

But fans won’t have to go inside.

The hotel has made its outdoor plaza – an elliptical public area out front that features a 12-foot waterfall – available for the initial KU pep rally, set to begin at 4 p.m. Friday. A KU victory during the 6:10 p.m. game against Niagara would spur another rally at noon Sunday, in time for fans to attend both sessions of second-round action at the United Center.

No NCAA perks for officials

A taxpayer-advocate group on Wednesday announced it had sent a letter “urging University of Kansas Chancellor Robert Hemenway to declare publicly that the school will not provide free NCAA Basketball Tournament tickets to any members of Congress or Congressional staffers.”The group, Americans For Prosperity, pointed out that a strict new ethics law passed in January prohibits members of Congress from accepting almost all gifts from registered lobbyists. But the law preserved a loophole that exempts gifts from lobbyists paid for by state or local governments.In response to the letter, KU spokesman Todd Cohen wrote, “KU does not provide free NCAA tickets to any elected officeholders, and also of course the university follows applicable ethics guidelines.”KU Associate Athletic Director Jim Marchiony said the university does not grant any tournament-related perks – such as discounted tickets or a shot at buying tickets early – to elected leaders.

PREV POST

Wichita State blemishes KU's undefeated home record

NEXT POST

23982Chicago hotel can’t contain the KU March Madness