For New Orleans, a 6th Final Four is bounce-back moment

By BRETT MARTEL
AP Sports Writer

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A seat at the 182-year-old French Quarter restaurant that invented Oysters Rockefeller and mastered Baked Alaska is virtually impossible to get this week. The first NCAA men’s Final Four without pandemic restrictions in three years is being held in New Orleans. And the tourism-dependent city needed it after seeing the hospitality industry devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic for much of the past two years. New Orleans suffered the cancellation of the 2020 women’s Final Four but 70,000-plus fans are expected at the Superdome for games on Saturday and Monday nights. Downtown hotels and restaurants are booked solid and city officials hope it marks the resumption of New Orleans as a big-event destination.