I think city leaders in Indy (HQ for the NCAA) have been pressuring the NCAA for years to throw more dollars into the local economy. They already make Indy a host site for both NCAA bball tournaments every year and I think this is something similar.
No major local economy is built around tourism but sports leagues keep selling this story and locals eat it up. That's why so many people from New Orleans wind up in Houston and Atlanta, their economies are built around corporations, not tourism.