This could have been a better weekend for John Yates.
His Duke Blue Devils could have been one of four teams in Atlanta Friday night for the South Regional of the NCAA college basketball tournament. Alas, his alma mater was upset last weekend.
The Atlanta lawyer isn't letting that get in the way of his enjoyment of the event, however, or his job.
Yates is chairman of the technology group for Morris Manning & Martin. But for the past year, he's also been getting Atlanta ready for next year's Final Four, the culmination of the 2013 tournament.
So, while he will watch some basketball this weekend, that's not his main focus.
"It's a great opportunity for us to have a preview of the Final Four," he said. "Obviously, it's on a smaller scale. But it's a real event that will prepare us for when the Big Dance comes next year."
The 55-year-old was chosen a year ago as chairman of the 2013 Atlanta Basketball Host Committee, making him the face and front man of one of sport's biggest events. It also made him ultimately responsible for a complex production that includes aspects as diverse as fundraising, transportation logistics and community outreach.
He figures he's spent seven to 10 hours a week to date on the job, but that will increase dramatically in the coming year, particularly as the March Madness approaches.
"It will be a very active second job," he said.
Yates won't run the event day to day, managing the buses that ferry visitors around town or planning Georgia Dome security, for example. But he will have to understand such matters. He'll also be making plenty of speeches, rallying support and representing Atlanta in media.
He's ready for it, he says, and not just mentally. He's dropped 20 pounds thanks to a personal trainer and early morning workouts and is "fit as I've ever been."
Yates was a logical choice, said William Pate, Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau president.
"We were looking for someone with a lot of passion for basketball, someone who had a very good attention for detail and someone with a high profile in the community," Pate said.
Yates played high school basketball in North Carolina and said, "A lot of my childhood and youth centered around dribbling a basketball."
Next year is the 75th anniversary of the tournament, so more special events than usual are planned around the games. Yates wouldn't be specific, but one goal is to develop a legacy project related to the tournament "that is going to have a real impact on our city for a long time after."
