March Madness in Full Force Downtown

News9.com

OKLAHOMA CITY – The NCAA Tournament tipped off Thursday and the metro is all about March Madness.

The Ford Center is hosting a number of first and second round games and fans are pouring into downtown to support their favorite college teams.

Fans have already found their hot spots in Bricktown with KU fans hanging at The Bricktown Brewery and Tapwerks has become the official meeting place for Kansas State.

Folks from out of town say they love what Oklahoma City has to offer including that Sooner hospitality.

"The people are great, everyone's nice, they smile at you, they talk to you, it's really nice, a lot nicer than what I'm used to," one fan said.

Oklahoma City residents are also keeping downtown packed, with some calling in sick to work to catch a game.

A study done by a law firm every year tries to predict the tournament's impact on workplace productivity. Last year the study found that employees distracted by March Madness could cost employers as much as $1.8 billion and that's based on just 20 minutes of time wasted.

With technology only getting better, distractions only get easier from text message updates to watching the games live on your computer.

For some fans though every game is do or die, so its worth any consequences.

Thankfully that same study also shows most bosses actually don't mind you watching the games. Some bosses see the tournament as a way of reducing stress in the workplace and many create pools to fuel some office fun.