FOX 2 will spend Saturday morning and early afternoon on the University of Michigan men’s basketball championship, with live coverage of the parade in Ann Arbor from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and the school’s celebration at 1 p.m. from the Crisler Center. The station said it will be the only local outlet carrying the Championship Celebration live, and viewers can watch free on FOX 2 or stream it on FOX LOCAL.
The parade begins at the President’s House, runs down State Street and ends at Yost Ice Arena, with fans told to line South University Drive west to the Student Union and then south along State Street. The city will close streets on the route at 8 a.m., and parking is available in campus structures on Thompson Street, Maynard, Thayer and Forest Avenue. For fans coming from Detroit, the D2A2 bus in Grand Circus Park leaves at 7:30 a.m. and arrives at 8:30 a.m., while a second bus departs at 9 a.m. and gets in at 10 a.m.
Michigan’s 69-61 win over UConn gave the program its second NCAA men’s basketball championship in school history and its first since 1989. That is the backdrop for the day’s celebration, which turns the Ann Arbor campus into the center of the sport’s latest title run. For fans still measuring the season against the pregame chatter and bracket forecasts, including championship betting coverage and other season-long coverage, Saturday is the payoff.
Read Also: Weather Houston: Showers and thunderstorms return Thursday through Saturday
The clean script of the day still has one practical wrinkle: the route is tight, the street closures start early, and the crowd will have to move with the campus instead of around it. That is why the timetable matters as much as the trophy, and why anyone planning to attend needs to be in place before the streets shut down at 8 a.m.
Read Also: Taryn Asher fired by Fox 2 Detroit after suspension, union attorney says
By the time the parade reaches Yost and the celebration begins at Crisler, Michigan’s title will no longer be a final-score line. It will be a public moment on campus, with the people who filled the season now gathered to watch it close in person.