DAYTON — The city will be on the national stage when it hosts two world leaders, a major community festival today and the NCAA First Four tournament on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“This is the best possible chance to show the rest of the world ... that Dayton is a great place to live,” J.P Nauseef, president of the nonprofit Dayton First Events, told a crowd gathered Friday in the Oregon District to promote today’s inaugural First Four Festival, styled as “a party by the community for the community.”

President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron will be in the stands for Tuesday’s games.

City, county and local business leaders have said they want Dayton to be the regular venue for the First Four.

The games and the festival are expected to pump an additional $4 million into the local economy.

Sunday’s free street festival, which runs from noon to 10 p.m., will include family activities, live music, big-screen TVs for watching the team selections for the NCAA tournament, Wright-Patterson-sponsored technology displays and flight simulators, topped off by an Air Force flyover.

The University of Dayton Arena has hosted NCAA Tournament games annually since 2001.

The plan

Up until last year, the NCAA had a single play-in game between the 64th- and 65th-seeded teams for the final spot in the field of 64. Last year, the NCAA expanded the format to eight teams — the four lowest seeded teams overall and the four lowest seeded at-large teams — playing for four spots in the tournaments second round. The NCAA gave a one-year contract to the University Dayton to host the event last year. Pleased with the outcome, the NCAA gave UD a two-year contract that runs through 2013. The NCAA is expected to bid out the First Four for 2014 and beyond sometime this spring.

Now local leaders don’t want it to leave after 2013, when the UD Arena will host not only the First Four, but also second- and third- round games.

“This is important to us as a city,” said Nan Whaley, city commissioner and member of the festival’s local organizing committee.

Beyond the Dayton/Montgomery County Convention & Visitors Bureau estimates of economic impact, Don Schumacher, executive director of the Cincinnati-based National Association of Sports Commissions, believes there are some intangibles that directly affect a local economy. Last year, Schumacher completed a report study the effect of sports tourism on the Montgomery County.

Schumacher said the First Four is as big or bigger in reputation for the area than the actual dollars being spent. “The First Four is not a participant-based event, but a ticket-based event. The value is less direct economic impact and visitor spending but, ‘Boy, this is cool,’ ” something the area can boast about, he said.

The University of Dayton tracked mention of the school in newspapers in the nation’s 100 top media markets, excluding Dayton, in March 2011 during last year’s First Four. The “University of Dayton” was mentioned 1,000 times. The school said it normally runs 100 mentions a month.

The estimated number of people who could’ve read stories with “University of Dayton” in it is 2.8 billion. The estimated publicity value is $1.2 million, according to the school.

The Convention & Visitors Bureau said its estimate of $4 million added to the local economy from the First Four is a conservative estimate, based on industry-recognized models. “We expect our dining establishments to do very, very well during the First Four,” said Jacquelyn Powell, president and CEO of the bureau. She added the university’s reputation for hosting NCAA events is a plus. “We certainly like to think our hospitality partners, the hotels, the restaurants, all those folks who are also working hard to ensure they’re giving the little extra touches where they can with the goal being the student-athlete is having a tremendous experience when they come here.

“Those are the things the NCAA will be looking at when they’re looking at where they go for the next time,” she said.

And the next time is what local leaders want.

Whaley often speaks of Omaha, Neb., home of the NCAA College World Series since 1950. “That’s what we want for Dayton,” she said.

According to College World Series Inc., a study of the event’s impact on the city found that in 2010, the 16- to 17-game tournament brought almost $53 million into the Omaha economy. The event also has sparked other NCAA and youth sports events to Omaha.

The guests

There may be several factors that bring the president to Dayton.

First, he is a self-professed basketball junkie and sports fan. For the past three years, he has filled out a tournament bracket for ESPN. Last year, he picked Duke, Kansas, Ohio State and Pittsburgh as his Final Four. Not one of his teams made the finals.

But Virginia Commonwealth University played its way out of the First Four in Dayton to the Final Four, losing to Butler.

Second, it is an election year, and the four Republican hopefuls just left the state following last week’s primary.

Montgomery County Republican Party Chairman Greg Gantt said he expected Obama to visit Ohio to counteract all the momentum the GOP may have generated through the candidates’ numerous ads and robocalls. Gantt said that Obama was coming to Dayton was a pleasant surprise that emphasizes the role the city and state will play as a “battleground state” in November’s presidential election. Third, is the link between First Lady Michelle Obama, the NCAA and the Air Force. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is a partner in the First Four Festival and will provide a number of displays, activities and a flyover at Sunday’s festival.

This year, the NCAA partnered with the First Lady in her program “to recognize, honor and support our troops and their families.”

“We at the NCAA are honored to recognize military members and families across the 89 championship events we host every year,” NCAA President Emmert has said. Through the generosity of First Four Festival partners, the local organizing committee has purchased and given 500 tickets to the families of deployed personnel from Wright-Patterson, said Catherine Petersen, Montgomery County’s communications director.

The money

The Montgomery County Commission is solidly behind the effort to permanently land the First Four. On Feb. 14 it gave $200,000 to Dayton First Events to cover the cost of the equipment and materials necessary to put on the free First Four Festival on Sunday from noon to 10 p.m.

Under the contract with Dayton First Events — its principals include Nauseef, attorney Beverly Shillito and University of Dayton President Dan Curran — the money must be used for acquisition and rental of such things as Porta-Johns, tents, chairs, sound systems, Jumbotrons, generators and searchlights. The money could not, however, be spent on consultant fees or services, food and beverages or entertainment.

Petersen is being paid through the more than $400,000 cash donated by dozens of local corporate partners and entities. The local organizing committee — a collaboration of local leaders and groups — also has received thousands of dollars worth of in-kind donations. The Dayton City Commissioners gave $25,000 toward the festival.

Mayor Gary Leitzell, who lived in Great Britain for 12 years, said the president’s visit is another example that the city is rebounding.

“Great things are happening here. More businesses are looking at downtown. We’ve got housing developments downtown. Attitudes are changing,” Leitzell told WHIO-TV.