The return of the NCAA March Madness tournament inspired a little madness in Jefferson City earlier this week.
Modern Litho, a Jefferson City-based commercial printer, was awarded the contract to print tens of thousands of programs for the first two rounds of the men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments.
And it had less than 48 hours to do it.
The first round of the NCAA March Madness Tournament kicks off today with 16 games throughout the country and continues Friday with another 16 games. The first round of the women’s tournament begins Friday with 16 games and continues Saturday with another 16 games.
The second round consists of eight games on both March 18 and 19 for men’s teams and eight games on both March 19 and 20 for women’s teams. Game times and matchups are available at ncaa.com.
Cassandra Atchison, Modern Litho’s vice president of marketing, said the 144-page bound programs were shipped to arenas where first-round games will be hosted, including Sacramento, California; Dayton, Ohio; Des Moines, Iowa; and Kansas City, Missouri, among other locations throughout the country.
Atchison said each arena was set to receive thousands of programs. The commercial printer used approximately 29,000 pounds of paper fulfilling the order.
“It’s a large order to complete between 7 p.m. and the next morning, absolutely,” she said, “however, it is not outside of our realm of everyday production.”
The printer was under a tight timeline to produce the pages.
The Modern Litho team was waiting for the results of Selection Sunday, when the NCAA unveils its 68-team bracket lineup, and received the printing files around 7 p.m. that night, Atchison said. The printer then arranged the files to produce different versions of the program for different locations.
The press ran overnight Sunday, and Atchison said her team was printing, folding and binding the programs to have them shipped out by about 4:30 a.m. Monday. Work wrapped up and all programs were shipped out by the end of the business day Tuesday.
Atchison said the rush order required many of Modern Litho’s 170 daily employees as well as “increased management involvement” in planning and executing production.
She said the order came from Modern Litho’s long-running partnership with Learfield Communications, with whom the NCAA originally contracted.
Atchison said the contract was for only the early rounds of both the men’s and women’s tournament. The first order encapsulated everything under the contract, so she said she’s not currently expecting another frenzy.
“It definitely has been a team effort, so we’re really proud to be a part of it,” she said.
Courtesy/Modern Litho: Modern Litho, a Jefferson City-based commercial printer, prints the NCAA March Madness tournament programs distributed to the arenas where first-round games will be played starting today and Friday. Modern Litho began producing the programs Sunday night and had tens of thousands shipped throughout the country by the end of the work day Tuesday.
Courtesy/Modern Litho: Modern Litho, a Jefferson City-based commercial printer, prints the NCAA March Madness tournament programs distributed to the arenas where first-round games will be played starting today and Friday. Modern Litho began producing the programs Sunday night and had tens of thousands shipped throughout the country by the end of the work day Tuesday.
Courtesy/Modern Litho: Jim Tomblinson, Modern Litho’s chief operating officer, holds a finished 144-page program for the early rounds of the NCAA March Madness tournament after the facility he manages printed it.