By David Giambusso/The Star-Ledger

NEWARK — In less than two weeks some of the nation’s most talented college athletes will shed their practice suits and take to the lacquered hardwood court in the Prudential Center in Newark.

Some teams will be heading to the NCAA East Regional Men’s basketball tournament for the first time. Other schools are long-time veterans.

For the players, a lifetime of dreams and years of intense work will be put to the test. Three two-hour crucibles will determine who advances to the coveted Final Four and who returns home — hopes vanquished and prospects dimmed.

But just outside the glass and steel entrance-ways of the Rock, the City of Newark will be facing a crucible of its own. The tournament represents a moment in the city’s history that has been decades in the making.

"Something this national in scope — I don’t think there’s ever been anything like this," said Al Koeppe a longtime business leader in Newark and chairman of the state Economic Development Authority. "It’s an indication that people are starting to view the city as a viable urban center where you can enjoy the kind of entertainment and amenities that you wouldn’t find in your own hometown."

More than 55,000 fans will descend on the Brick City, and a thousand volunteers will marshal them through a weekend of diversions ranging from face painting to beer gardens, to live jazz. Cars, buses, and trains will move throngs of the NCAA faithful through Newark’s downtown, hoping to keep them safely on this side of the Passaic River, coaxing them out of the arena’s footprint, while limiting their exodus into Manhattan.

From NJPAC, to Halsey Street, to the Ironbound, Newark will be looking to show itself as the destination city it has fought for years to become. It will be looking to displace an image emblazoned in the state and national psyche — that of a desolate city, beset with crime and poverty.

If everything goes well, the city could stand to inherit NCAA events for years to come. At the very least Newark will be featured in national press coverage as a city that can stand with the likes of Boston, New Orleans, and San Antonio. But if something goes wrong, Newark may never see March Madness again. Still, many in Newark insist that the mere presence of the regionals in 2011 is evidence that the city is shedding its long held reputation as a poster child for urban decay.

THE RUN UP

"It’s a whole big dose of legitimacy," said Jeff Vanderbeek, the New Jersey Devils managing partner and the driving force behind the Prudential Center’s success. "Not only for the arena but for the city."

Landing the tournament was a major coup for the arena, city and Seton Hall University, the host school. Newark beat out urban centers up and down the East Coast, most notably the Izod Center, long seen as the arena’s main competition, and a perennial host of the event.

"It’s a formidable thing to get a new arena approved by the NCAA," Vanderbeek said. "They have a pretty long list."

By NCAA request, none of the officials involved in the tournament were authorized to speak about the internal processes that went into landing the event or its execution, but three individuals with knowledge of the deliberations described some internal details on background.

Requests for proposals went out in April 2009 and Prudential, in partnership with Seton Hall, submitted its bid by that June. Newark had applied for the divisional games as well as the regionals in an exhaustive application that examined costs, transportation and hotel accommodations for the NCAA teams, officials and the press that follow.

In September 2009 the NCAA announced the tournament would be coming to Newark. By April 2010 all of the tickets had been sold out.

Ticket sales operated on three tiers. The NCAA took an allotment. The specific teams are given a set amount for their fans. And finally, the general public were sold the remaining tickets. Each of the three games will seat 18,000 spectators.

THE OPERATION

Among the biggest concerns for NCAA officials is the use of their trademark. None of the extra-curricular events happening in Newark are allowed to use the association’s logo.

All of the advertisements normally on display inside the arena will be covered up and the NCAA will import its own floor that will feature its own trademarks as well as "Newark."

Newark’s local organizing committee has adopted the "Go Newark Hoopfest" moniker currently plastered across billboards and banners in and around the city to describe events outside the arena.

The other major concern for the NCAA is that the teams and the fans are comfortably quartered and moved to and from the arena. Six hotels have been commissioned for the teams, the officials, staff and press.

The Hilton Newark, Marriott Newark, Renaissance Newark and Wyndham Garden Newark Airport Hotels will put up the four teams and their fans. The Short Hills Hilton will house officials and the Newark Penn Station Hilton will serve as NCAA headquarters.

Saddle River Bus Lines, which typically services Seton Hall, will operate buses for the teams. NCAA officials are primarily concerned with the success of all events within the arena. Everything else is up to the city.

"I think a success for (the NCAA) is that the event goes off without a hitch and that people have fun," Vanderbeek said.

But he and Newark devotees say the city has natural advantages and its day in the sun is long overdue. While welcoming the tournament, Newark historian Clement Price took umbrage with fears that Newark would not pass the test.

"Of course the city will do fine as a hosting city and venue," Price insisted. "The arena is a first-class operation as is NJPAC as is the Newark Museum. Why do we second-guess ourselves? That seems to be a part of Newark’s DNA."

But officials inside and outside of the arena are not taking any chances. The presence of the NCAA could bring about $15 million to city restaurants and hotels strapped by years of recession. A successful showing in 2011 could also guarantee return trips by the NCAA for basketball, hockey, and wrestling.

OTHER CITIES

But the NCAA has a reputation for being finicky, and a small offense can make or break a host city.

"Basketball makes the big bucks and helps support the rest of what we do in the NCAA," said Charles Brown, athletic director at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. For that reason they are very careful about where they choose to host their playoffs, he said.

Baltimore Arena hosted the divisional playoffs in 1995, and despite an abundance of amenities in the city’s Inner Harbor section, Brown said the association was not pleased.

"The NCAA basketball committee felt the venue was not up to standard," Brown said. "The locker rooms were not good, the sight lines in the arena were not good. We were told that after the event and we never put in a bid again."

Albany, N.Y. hosted the regionals in 2003. By all accounts the tournament was a success. The games sold out, the city took in $12 million but the East Regionals will not return until at least after 2013, the year through which the tournament is currently scheduled.

Unlike in Baltimore, Belber said the NCAA feedback was largely positive around Albany’s Times Union Center, but there were complaints about the surrounding area.

"The only thing that they would have liked to have seen would have been another hotel," Belber said, "Perhaps a little more indoor exhibition space."

Albany has been trying to build a $75 million convention center adjacent to the arena for more than 10 years but has struggled to find funding.

"That would put us in a good position to be able to submit a bid to the NCAA basketball committee," Belber said.

Charlotte, North Carolina has been a favorite of the NCAA since the late 1950’s, having hosted the East Regionals, as well as the Final Four and a host of divisional playoffs. For Tim Newman, CEO of the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority, the formula for March Madness success is a simple one: A good venue, good outreach, and good infrastructure.

"We have a local organizing committee that works very well together to manage all aspects," Newman said, "Advertising, tickets — everything that needs to be managed for the NCAA."

Newman said because the Time Warner Center — the arena that hosts the games — is located in the heart of the city, it allows fans something to do other than watch basketball.

"Everything that you need is within walking distance of the arena," Newman said, citing restaurants museums and hotels. "All of it is accessible by light rail."

NEWARK PREPARES

When it comes to transportation, though, Newark has most cities beat. And after decades of rebuilding the downtown, the city hopes its amenities can hold the attention of visitors.

Aside from being home to one of the biggest airports in the world, the city lies at a nexus of five major highways. Just two blocks from the Prudential Center, Penn Station runs Amtrak, NJ Transit, and PATH trains to and from New York City and throughout the state and region. The Newark Light Rail ferries passengers from Penn Station along the arts corridor to NJPAC — all in a three-mile radius to the arena.

For the weekend games and events jitney buses will run every 15 minutes, ferrying visitors from hotels to the Prudential Center throughout the downtown area and up and down Ferry Street.

The first two games of the tournament will be played on Friday. The winners will face off on Sunday for a slot in the Final Four.

NJPAC will host a free wine tasting as well as scheduled musical performances. The Newark Museum will partner with WBGO FM to host a free jazz event featuring Antoinette Montague.

For those not lucky enough to get inside to see the games, a giant tent will be built outside of the Prudential Center for a four day "Fan Fest." From Thursday to Sunday, the arena’s Championship Plaza will be festooned with flat screen televisions, a beer garden, merchandise, DJ’s, live performances, and "family-oriented" games.

Beyond that, virtually every restaurant, bar, store and art gallery in Newark’s arts corridor will be staffed to the hilt, hocking NCAA-related promotions. The trick will be getting people to venture outside of the arena’s footprint.

PERCEPTIONS

"You’ve got to overcome the reluctance of people to walk the streets in Newark," Koeppe said. "I think a lot has to do with how welcoming the community is perceived."

Perception is where Newark has always struggled.

"A lot of people come to me wanting to know of the Newark that is obscured by the ‘Brick City’ lens," said Price referring to the Sundance documentary that has been faulted by critics with only showing the city’s more violent tendencies and ignoring its cultural attributes.

Experts in urban perception say that images of violence are pervasive and are much harder to combat than those of quietude.

"The thing about reputations is that they’re very sticky," said Harvard sociology professor Robert Sampson. "They are subject to powerful images that are difficult to dislodge."

Sampson’s research is focused on urban perceptions, specifically in Chicago, but he says the problems of perception are consistent in most urban centers.

"Newark unfortunately has a number of past marks against it," Sampson said referring to the riots, decades of population decline, and a national reputation for violent crime. "These are hard things to overcome. That said, it’s not inevitable."

While one sporting event isn’t likely to change perceptions, Sampson said it can go a long way if it is married to a genuine investment in social infrastructure.

The city’s major universities, as well as Newark-based corporations like the Devils, Prudential, PSE&G, Verizon, and The Star-Ledger have been quietly driving investment into Newark’s cultural renaissance for years.

POLITICS

Much of the city’s cultural infrastructure, from the NJPAC, to the light rail, to the arena itself were initiatives shepherded by former Mayor Sharpe James. But no one in Newark stands to benefit more from the national exposure of the regionals than Mayor Cory Booker.

"Anything that brings attention to Newark is good for him and his administration," said Julie Roginsky, a prominent New Jersey political strategist. "Right now, for better or worse, it’s Cory Booker’s city."

Viewers and readers throughout the country can expect to see the two-term mayor’s image and voice throughout the weekend media blitz that will accompany the tournament.

"The smart move is to get in front of every camera he can and to take as much credit as he can for getting the tournament to come here," said Hank Sheinkopf a veteran New York and New Jersey political operative.

SECURITY

Police Director Garry McCarthy said his department is well versed in providing security at the arena and the outlying area.

"We’ve kind of been training for this since the arena’s been open," McCarthy said. "I always plan for the worst case scenario."

Barring a few isolated incidents in years past, Newark’s downtown has seen relatively little crime. As with normal events, McCarthy said the department’s three main focus areas will be street crime, protests and terrorism.

A mobile command center will be set up throughout the weekend on Mulberry and Lafayette streets, which serve as an on-site headquarters. McCarthy said the unit houses surveillance and communications equipment, supplies and will be used as a meeting area for situations as they arise.

Dozens of officers will take up posts outside the arena as well as along Ferry Street, and the area between the arena and NJPAC. Police will also provide escorts for team buses traveling to and from the arena.

Throughout next week, the department will be finalizing plans, and shoring up gaps McCarthy said. Roughly $46,000 has been allotted for overtime over the weekend. Officers will also be stationed inside the arena and will receive additional overtime courtesy of private donations.

Far from worrying about crime, Booker said the tournament will represent a "seminal moment" for Newark. But he said it is only one in a long litany of positive Newark happenings.

"The fact that Newark is having poetry festivals and peace conferences — all of these things are building an undeniable thesis that our city is making incredible strides forward," Booker said in a phone interview. "We’re heading towards a perception tipping point where it’s going to soon become a foregone conclusion that not only has Newark turned a corner, but it’s way down the right road."