Final Four fever hits Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (FOX 9) - Final Four fever is starting to spread across the Twin Cities, especially at the place where fans from across the country will soon start arriving.

Parts of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport are starting to look like a bracketologist's best friend as the airport transforms into a college basketball hub.

Phil Burke is the keeper of the two massive brackets at Terminal 1. It’s his job to make sure the madness of March college basketball is up to speed.

“Certainly last Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Monday and now this morning getting last night’s games updated, it’s been fun,” said Burke, the assistant director of customer experience for the Metropolitan Airports Commission.

“It’s really cool, it’s nice to see it really big on the wall,” said Steve Burrell, a traveler.

“You walk off the plane and you realize this is the town for the Final Four,” said Kelly Hahn, a Michigan fan.

When Burke isn’t breaking down brackets, it’s his day job to get the airport ready for the flood of fans heading to Minneapolis for the Final Four. The terminals are decorated with tournament signs for the estimated 45,000 fans expected to go through the security checkpoints.

There’s other plans in the works that may not be immediately noticeable. Next week, there will be increased security in place and a small army of 500 volunteers at the airport.

“We want to do that make sure we're making a really great first and last impression for the fans,” said Burke.

“You can feel the atmosphere, you can tell March Madness is coming and it’s exciting,” said Burrell.