SAN ANTONIO – All eyes will be on San Antonio this weekend for the Men’s Final Four as the Alamodome hosts the March Madness finale for the fifth time.
The stage is set, too, with Florida taking on Auburn and Duke taking on Houston on Saturday. The championship is scheduled for Monday, April 7.
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As the teams prepare for their matchups, locals and visitors may be arranging their trip to downtown to see the games or the free music festival in Hemisfair.
If you attended the Men’s Final Four or related events in San Antonio in 2018 — the last time the NCAA championship was held in the Alamo City — then you may notice how much downtown has changed in just seven years.
This includes the transformation of Hemisfair and Alamo Street, as well as a multi-million dollar renovation of the Alamodome in preparation for the Final Four.
Here’s how downtown San Antonio has changed since it last hosted the Men’s Final Four in 2018.
2018 music fest held in what’s now Civic Park
In 2018, the NCAA Men’s Final Four March Madness Music Festival was hosted in the area that has since become Civic Park.
At that time, Jason Aldean, Luis Fonsi, One Republic, Panic at the Disco and Imagine Dragons played in the jam-packed field, which is located at the corner of Alamo and Market streets. An estimated 145,000 fans attended the three-day festival.
LOOK BACK: Sky 12 flew over the Men’s Final Four Music Festival in 2018.
Fast forward to today, and that space now holds gathering spaces, the Great Lawn, a water feature called The Springs, and an 825-foot walkway called The Promenade.
It also features more than 130 native trees of 29 varieties.
Civic Park opened in September 2023.
In March 2025, city leaders unveiled the newest section of Civic Park. It features four main spaces: Source Plaza, the Promenade, the Stage and the Zócalo.
Source Plaza serves as a new entrance to the park and acts as a gateway between Hemisfair and the surrounding entertainment and retail offerings.
Civic Park will not be the venue for the music festival during this Final Four, but it will feature the Men’s Final Four Tip-Off Tailgate sponsored by Nissan.
The event will include watch parties, giveaways, basketball-themed activities, food and drinks.
The construction of The Monarch Hotel at the northwest corner of Civic Park is ongoing.
Tower Park is under design near closed ITC
What are the other new happenings in Hemisfair? The UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures will be torn down, and the development of Tower Park is underway.
Tower Park is still under design, according to Hemisfair’s website, but leaders have said the goal is to make it “of the same exceptional caliber as Yanaguana Garden and Civic Park.”
In the meantime, Tower Park — the third and final phase of the revitalization of Hemisfair — will host the music festival.
It is situated on the eastern side of Hemisfair, between the Tower of the Americas and the ITC, which is set to be demolished this year.
The demolition comes amid the city and developers’ plan to revamp downtown through Project Marvel, a multi-billion dollar sports and entertainment district that would include a new arena for the San Antonio Spurs.
That’s in the future, though. For this weekend, fans will see the area transformed into a large-scale music festival.
>> What you can and can’t bring to 2025 NCAA March Madness Music Festival in San Antonio
Turf and a stage have already been installed in the ITC parking lot. There will also be a cantina, beer garden and Ferris wheel.
Pitbull, Jelly Roll, Chris Stapleton, T-Pain and Doechii are among the performers.
18 new suites at the Alamodome
In January, the Alamodome unveiled 18 new suites on the arena’s south end, part of a multi-million dollar renovation project.
Steve Zito, assistant director of convention and sports facilities at the Alamodome, previously told KSAT about the new amenities.
“The new pocket doors are awesome,” Zito said. “They open up the capabilities of these suites so we can host larger groups.”
The new suites range from 13-by-20 feet to 19-by-20 feet.
>> What you can and can’t take inside the Alamodome for the 2025 NCAA Final Four basketball games
Several include operable partitions between units, allowing the room size to be flexible as dictated by events. They total 174 seats, not including standing-room-only availability.
Zito said the suites also offer advanced amenities, including climate control, adjustable lighting and sound systems.
The suites were equipped with two refrigerators and ice makers for the first time.
The new suites were part of a $29 million upgrade to host the 2025 NCAA Men’s Final Four. The NCAA requires at least 70 luxury suites to host the event, and this project reaches that capacity.
Ongoing work on South Alamo Street
Construction on South Alamo Street has been ongoing since 2022.
The work is part of the 2017-2022 bond project that calls for wider sidewalks, street reconstruction, drainage improvements, pedestrian and roadway lighting, and landscaping.
To accommodate Final Four pedestrian and vehicular traffic, the city will make temporary fixes, like repaving the road, creating pedestrian paths and adjusting lighting, sidewalks and fencing, a Public Works spokesperson previously told KSAT.
The temporary fixes are expected to cost $800,000.
New features at Alamo Plaza
People who haven’t visited downtown San Antonio since 2018 will see some new features around Alamo Plaza.
Construction on a $550 million expansion plan is ongoing, including the renovation of The Cenotaph and the partial demolition of the Crockett and Woolworth buildings, which will host a new visitor’s center and museum.
A collections center, spanning 24,000 square feet, opened two years ago.
The Alamo also recently unveiled various new attractions: a reconstructed Mission Gate and lunette on the site’s southern end, an augmented reality exhibit, and the Plaza de Valero, a grassy area south of the Alamo.
KSAT has everything you need to know about the Final Four in San Antonio, from a first look at the court to the free concerts at Hemisfair. To read the latest on Final Four, click here.
KSAT reporters RJ Marquez and Garrett Brnger contributed to this report.
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