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“We root for whoever’s here,” Benner said, diplomatically, but agreed a team that hasn’t made it to the Final Four — such as West Virginia –” they’d arrive in hordes.”

Morgan Greenlee, spokeswoman for luxury hotel Conrad Indianapolis, is a Butler alum but a native of Louisville who roots for the University of Kentucky. Greenlee said, as a business event, “it’s a great opportunity to have faces that are new to Indianapolis … There’s pros and cons.”

Scanning the brackets, “we can’t lose with any of the teams coming in here/it’s a win-win.”

He said big Ten schools are always dependable because they are large, close and have a dedicated fan base that travels to see them play.

From an economist’s perspective

Larry DeGaris, director of the academic sports marketing program at the University of Indianapolis, said by e-mail: “From a purely financial perspective, I’d root for Syracuse, Washington, Duke, and Tennessee.

“Ohio State and Kentucky are close enough to Indy that Downtown would lose hotel rooms for some fans, though UK is attractive because it’d likely generate better TV ratings, especially if they were to play Duke.

“So, you’re looking for distant markets but with big fan followings. Out-of-town visitors are important from a direct-spending point of view, but media exposure adds value, too.

“Syracuse is a definite because it brings the NY (New York) market and has a fan base that will travel.

“Washington brings West Coast markets though their fan base is much smaller than Kentucky — that’s a tough call.

“St. Mary’s would be a sentimental favorite and you’d love to get California from a media perspective but they just don’t have enough fans and Duke draws, both by itself and as an opponent.

“Ohio State is a tough call, too, but Tennessee fans travel for the team and would likely generate more hotel rooms but not as much media.

“The worst Final Four financially would be Cornell (no fans), Butler and Purdue (local), and Northern Iowa (no fans and no major media market). It might satisfy some fans but TV ratings would be low and hotel rooms would be empty.”

Root for the underdog, Northern Iowa

Back at Coach’s Tavern, Tom Sutton said he would welcome underdog Northern Iowa fans because “it is close enough” that they could make that trip, but he didn’t know how many fans they’d bring.

He had even lower hopes for the far coastal teams, like St. Mary’s in California and Cornell in New York.

“They’re too far, I don’t think a lot of fans would come here,” Sutton said.