ARLINGTON, Texas - Those of you who like to plan ahead, I urge you to keep your calendar clear for the first weekend of April 2014.

That's when the Final Four will be hosted by the Big 12 Conference and North Texas at the Dallas Cowboys new stadium (which opens next summer). If you love college basketball, like a festival atmosphere or prefer a mix of the two, the Dallas-Fort Worth area - or as natives like to call it, the Metroplex - will be where it's at.

The NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee announced Wednesday the five host cities for the Final Fours from 2012 through 2016. There were 10 cities that bid. In addition to North Texas, New Orleans will host in 2012, Atlanta in 2013, Indianapolis in 2015 and Houston in 2016 will be Final Four sites.

Those cities will experience what has become more than the final three games in a college basketball season. The Final Four has evolved into a weekend that provides an all-you-can-attend buffet of events. And not all of them require a ticket package that puts a dent in your credit card bill.

The last time the Final Four was in North Texas was 1986 when it was held at Dallas' (soon-to-be-razed) Reunion Arena. That weekend was all about the hoops. That was the first Final Four I have been privileged to cover. Outside of the buzz created by Duke, Louisville, Kansas and LSU inside Reunion, there wasn't much going on outside the arena.

Contrast that with last year's Final Four held in San Antonio's Alamodome. Hoop City at the Convention Center is a kid friendly venue with games, exhibits, skill demonstrations. Two free outdoor concerts were held. The River Walk was crawling (yes, some over-served patrons were crawling) with fans.

The NCAA wants something going on from Friday morning through Monday night. A four-day weekend, a basketball bash.

"It's been a conscious growth," said Mike Slive, Southeastern Conference commissioner and chair of the men's basketball committee. "The competition is the core, the heart and soul of the weekend. But what we've expanded on is are the extraordinatry opportunities for the fans to participate in the Final Four in one way or another."

The new Cowboys $1.1 billion stadium is the Taj Mahal of sports facilities. Not only will it be the home of America's Team, the Cotton Bowl is moving there after the 2009 season, the Dr Pepper Big 12 Football Championship game will be played there in 2009 and 2010, the NBA All-Star Game will be there in 2010 and the Super Bowl in 2011.

"We're going to be able to have a pep-rally atmosphere before, during and after the games," said Charlotte Anderson, North Texas Final Four bid committee president. "We're going to have day-long activities here at the stadium on the day of the games and we'll have off-site events in downtown Dallas at other times."

The 2014 Final Four could well become the most people-packed in history. The 10 cities that submitted bids listed an average capacity of 76,000 for the Final Four. That expansion is made possible by the new floor-level seating arrangement that will make its debut at the 2009 Final Four in Detroit.

The Cowboys stadium listed 93,000 as its seating capacity for the Final Four. The record attendance for a single Final Four game is 64,959. Slive said the new stadium provides a "flexible canvas" for the Final Four

Take 90,000 basketball fans, mix in 20,000 or so ticket-less folks hanging around outside the stadium and you've got a Mardi Gras level celebration.

The Big 12/North Texas bid offered the NCAA a wide-range of options for ancillary events. The Arts District in Downtown Dallas will host "athletes and the arts" themed events. With four Division I schools in the area (SMU, TCU, Texas-Arlington and North Texas) within a 40-mile radius, the NCAA's YES clinics for youngsters can be held on those campuses.

The bid also offered the idea of bringing in string quartets or chorale groups from the Final Four schools to perform at the world-famous Morton H. Myerson Symphony Center in the Dallas Arts District.

We'll have to wait over five years, but the celebration that's going to take place that weekend could be one of the largest and unique in Final Four history. They like to do it up big in Texas.

Final Fours in Big 12 territory
A look at the Final Fours that have been held or are scheduled to be held in the Big 12 Conference's seven-state foot print: