INDIANAPOLIS -- Tickets to preliminary rounds of the 2016 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship go on sale at 10 a.m. local time Saturday, Oct. 17, to each host city. Fans wishing to buy tickets to the First Four^®, first- and second-round games or regional competition should go to www.NCAA.com/MBBTickets.

The 2016 championship begins on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, March 15-16, with the First Four -- four first-round games taking place in Dayton, Ohio. First- and second-round action takes place Thursday and Saturday, March 17 and 19, in Denver; Des Moines, Iowa; Providence, Rhode Island; and Raleigh, North Carolina. Also, hosting first- and second-round games Friday and Sunday, March 18 and 20, will be Brooklyn, New York; Oklahoma City, St. Louis and Spokane, Washington.

Louisville, Kentucky, will serve as the South Regional site and Anaheim, California, will host the West Regional on Thursday and Saturday, March 24 and 26. Philadelphia will be the site for the East Regional and Chicago will host the Midwest Regional on Friday and Sunday, March 25 and 27.

"This is a great opportunity for college basketball fans to see March Madness® in some of our traditional cities with a long history of hosting the tournament, as well as a couple of new cities that have never hosted before," said Dan Gavitt, the NCAA's vice president of men's basketball. "From major markets to smaller cities, there's a great chance that America's best sporting event is going to be played reasonably close to any fan in the country, so it's a terrific opportunity to come watch history unfold."

The 78^th NCAA Men's Final Four^® will be co-hosted on April 2 and 4 by the University of Houston, Rice University and Texas Southern University. General tickets to the games at NRG Stadium in Houston are sold out, but fans still have the opportunity to purchase ticket and hospitality packages from PrimeSport, the official ticket and hospitality provider of the NCAA, by visiting www.NCAA.com/VIP. The NCAA Experience^® ticket and hospitality packages for all preliminary rounds of the championship can also be purchased at that website via PrimeSport.

As the last out was recorded Monday evening by the Champion West Michigan Whitecaps in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the Midwest League closed a record setting 2015 season.

• The Midwest League set a regular season attendance record during 2015 drawing 4,233,904 fans breaking the previous record set in 2010, of 4,184,843 fans. This total was (i) 10% of all fans who attended every Minor League Baseball ("MiLB") game throughout all MiLB  Leagues, and (ii) exceeded every other League except for the Class AAA Leagues, International and Pacific Coast.

• The post-season saw an additional 32,479 fans through the turnstiles, the highest since 2010 when the playoffs brought in 34,686 fans. Without question the enthusiasm of the fans at the playoff games exceeded anything experienced before.

• A number of clubs either continued record streaks or set new attendance records:

1. Dayton continued its consecutive home sell out streak which began in 2000 and once again was the number 1 Class A team in attendance; exceeded every Class AA team; and number 8 in all of MiLB

2. South Bend and Quad Cities set attendance records-South Bend exceeding 300,000 fans for the first time in its history by drawing 348,000 fans.

3. Fort Wayne had its highest per game average attendance and would have set an all time attendance record had it not had 3 rain outs during the season.

4. Kane County finished in the top 30 in attendance in MiLB, and second in the Midwest League.

5. The remainder of Midwest League Clubs had very strong results which helped to contribute to a League wide record setting season.

President Dick Nussbaum, completing his first year in this role commented: "The Sixteen (16) Midwest League Clubs have shown they are the very best in Minor League Baseball, and as we congratulate our champion, the West Michigan Whitecaps, all Clubs can take a bow for this record setting season.  The 2016 Season can not come soon enough."

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Quad Cities: Over 200 athletes from across North America, both men and women, arrive in the Quad Cities the first weekend in October to compete for the National Title at this year's North American Strongman National Championships.  This is the first time the North American Strongman National Championships have been held in the Quad Cities.  The event takes place at the RiverCenter in downtown Davenport, Iowa.

The public is invited to all competitions.  They are held in the RiverCenter's Great Hall on Friday, October 2 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday, October 3 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.   Admission to the event is $7 per person or $5 when you bring a non-perishable food item which will be donated to the local food pantry.

In addition to the competitions, there will be plenty of other activities going on at the RiverCenter including door prizes, health screenings, health and fitness vendors, and a variety of fun activities for the kids.

The athletes will be competing not only to become North America's Strongest, but they are also vying for a spot at the World Championships, that will be held early spring at the Arnold Schwarzenegger sports festival in Ohio.  Strongman Corporation chose the Quad Cities for the event, due to the known factor of the Quad Cities being a great sporting town that support a variety of sporting events.

This is the first time the North American Strongman National Championships have been held in the Quad Cities.  The event was secured through the efforts of the Quad Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau.  Spectators have the opportunity to see amazing athletes in action during a variety of competitions.  On October 2, three events take place on opening day.  The Log Clean and Press competition gives athletes 60-seconds to get in as many lifting reps without touching the ground.  This is followed by Conan's Carry Yoke Walk where athletes have 60-seconds to carry a yoke in front of their body for 60-feet.  The day concludes with the Farmers challenge in which competitors have 60-seconds to carry farm implements for a distance of 60-feet.

The competition concludes on Saturday with two final events, the Push Pull Medley and Sand Bag Carry.  During the Push Pull Medley, competitors do a one-arm giant dumbbell press over their head followed by a one-arm deadlift pull.  Athletes must go back and forth between the press and pull.  A successful rep is one complete press and one complete pull.  They are judged on how many they can complete in 60-seconds.  The Sand Bag Carry and Load Medley gives each athlete 75-seconds to load four sandbags onto a platform.  Each sandbag is placed about 60-feet from the platform.

Strongman Corporation (SC) is the sole sanctioning and governing body for the sport of professional and amateur strongman events in the U.S.  SC provides athletes with opportunities by promoting numerous professional strongman contests across the country yearly.  These contests include America's Strongest Man®, the Olympia Strongman Challenge, the U.S. Nationals and Pro-Am and Platinum-Plus series.  SC also works directly with individual promoters, international representatives and strongman federations, world-wide to ensure that American athletes have opportunities abroad as well.

SC has the largest amateur-to-professional strongman system in the world.  SC has developed relationships world-wide that allows young athletes the time to mature in the amateur ranks while having the opportunity to compete in SC sanctioned events and earn their professional status.  SC also fosters the growth of strongman in the international community by advising countries and regions as they develop amateur-to-professional systems of their own.  SC hosts the annual Arnold Amateur Strongman World Championships which sees international and American amateur strongman competitors compete for the World Champion title and professional strongman status.

Strongman Corporation is the premier amateur and professional strongman corporation in the world. Their mission is to provide quality strongman contests for the public while ensuring fair treatment for the competitors.

Headquartered in Maryland Heights, Missouri, they have a number of training facilities all over the world for new and veteran athletes.  Strongman Corporation has over 200 contests per year that qualify athletes to compete in the National Championships.  From the National Championships, athletes qualify to compete at the World Championships in March at the Arnold Classic.  For more information, visit strongmancorporation.com

Sponsors for the competition include New Age Performance, SBD Apparel, KT Tape, and McDougal Chiropractic Services. SBD is a global sportswear brand, founded to design and produce market-leading performance products in conjunction with their team of elite athletes, coaches and health professionals.  SBD produces special sleeves worn on the arms during powerlifting, crossFit and Strongman competitions.  SBD will have a vendor booth at the competition and will be selling their product.

KT Tape is an elastic sports and fitness tape designed for muscle, ligament, and tendon pain relief and support. KT tape will be on hand to help assure athletes safety and working hand in hand with Dr. Todd McDougal to help keep athletes in the event.

New Age Performance will also have a booth at the competition.  New Age Performance is taking the sports and fitness world by storm because there is nothing available on the market that provides the instantaneous athletic enhancing benefits of their Mouthware products.  It doesn't matter if you're a pro athlete or just a health conscious consumer, New Age Performance can help enhance your performance by experiencing increased strength, balance, flexibility, oxygen uptake, range of motion and grind protection.  Their Mouthware is the number one choice to help improve performance.