SAN ANTONIO – As a live band played country covers and NCAA officials ate fresh masa cakes and queso, someone across the room caught Cydni Bickerstaff's attention.
"Look, it's my warehouse guy," Bickerstaff declared excitedly as she waved, then made her way across the room.
While others might focus on the Final Four festivities, Bickerstaff is looking well beyond this weekend.
Bickerstaff is the high-energy operations chief for the Minneapolis organizing committee in charge of bringing March Madness to U.S. Bank Stadium in 2019. She's part of the Twin Cities contingent in Texas this weekend watching and learning one last time before creating their own version of the event that is both the zenith and finale of the NCAA Division 1 college basketball season.
The "warehouse guy" is an NCAA official with whom Bickerstaff is working to find and coordinate storage space. Lots of space and coordination is needed when there are four basketball teams with their coaching staffs, plus media, pep bands, fans attending games, concerts and festivals.
In San Antonio's Alamodome, Michigan will play Loyola-Chicago at 5:09 p.m. Saturday followed by Kansas and Villanova. The championship game is Monday at 8:19 p.m.
Bickerstaff, 49, has been here since Tuesday. By late Thursday, the days and hours had blurred together as she darted from meetings and backstage tours to nightly events.
Local organizing committee CEO Kate Mortenson said Bickerstaff has "deep expertise in the detailed logistical planning necessary for an event of this magnitude. She has a lot of credibility in the sport of basketball — it's second nature to her."