March Madness is back in Birmingham, but how long will it take you to get a beer and a hot dog at the concession stand?

“The lines will be manageable and short,” said Tad Snider, executive director of the BJCC. “We’re committed to that.”

At a recent Birmingham Legion soccer game at Protective Stadium, and at the recent high school basketball tournament at Legacy Arena, there were complaints of long lines.

“There’s not a good reason,” Snider said. “It shouldn’t have happened. We’ve met internally about it. Believe me, it won’t happen again.”

The BJCC has a concessions contract with the international company Sodexo.

In 2017, the French-based Sodexo acquired Centerplate, Inc. a provider of food and beverage, merchandise and hospitality services at sports facilities, convention centers and entertainment facilities in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Spain. Then in 2020, the pandemic happened, canceling all events and throwing the event concession business into turmoil.

“We meet with our partner regularly and we have our staff that manages that account,” Snider said. “They are experts in this.”

Alabama played at the renovated Legacy Arena this season on Dec. 17, when Gonzaga beat the Tide 100-90 in the the C.M. Newton Classic. That provided a practice run for the NCAA Tournament, Snider said.

“That plan worked well in December when Alabama played,” Snider said. “That was full capacity. Back when we did the NBA exhibition game in the fall with New Orleans, we were right at capacity. So, we know the plan works and we just have to execute on the plan. We’re prepared to do that. We met earlier (Monday) about it. I’ll tell you this. There’s people a lot better than me at it. I’ll sling a beer or throw out a burger if I have to. We have a lot of people who have been planning this for awhile, who are confident in the plan.”

Birmingham will host the first and second round of the NCAA Tournament for Division I men’s basketball on Thursday and Saturday this week.

“I think we’re up for the challenge,” said Birmingham City Council member Hunter Williams.

“I know that at the Legion game this past Saturday there were complaints about the lines at the concession stand,” Williams said. “There are things that the BJCC has to work through with some of their third-party vendors .. I think there are growing pains when you have something new and you have vendors that are new. My hope is that they do go smoothly.”

On Thursday, that means games from the first tip-off at 11:15 a.m. to an 8:20 p.m. game that will end past 10 p.m.

Adequate staffing at a venue that has intermittent events and sometimes long or odd hours for concession workers can be an issue. There are workers based in Birmingham, but some workers will be brought in for the event.

“For this weekend it’s going to be a blend of both,” Snider said. “The benefit of having a national or international company as your food and beverage partner is they can flex from other locations,” Snider said. “We’ll definitely have people from out of town working this event that’s supplementing the on-site staff that works here every day.”

Alabama, the top seed in the South region, will play its first round game on Thursday at 1:45 p.m. against the winner of the Southeast Missouri State vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi play-in game on Tuesday.

Auburn will play Iowa at Legacy Arena at 5:50 p.m. Thursday.

Other games set for Legacy Arena include West Virginia v. Maryland at 11:15 a.m., and Northern Kentucky v. Houston at 8:20 p.m.

“I think people want their beer as coldly and as quickly as possible,” Williams said.

See also: Is BJCC ready for the return of the NCAA Tournament?