Local sports fans who traveled to Omaha and Kansas City in recent days for basketball tournaments had a chance to experience the energy and fun that come with state-of-the-art arenas.

In both cities, an arena is a major anchor for redevelopment that has transformed formerly humdrum areas into lively districts crowded with people out to enjoy themselves.

The newest is the Sprint Center at 14th Street and Grand Boulevard, in the newly designated Power and Light District in the heart of downtown Kansas City.

The center hosted the Big 12 basketball tournament last week. The Kansas City Star reported that thousands of fans “took in an area that has gone from ghost town during the last tournament here in 2005 to a burgeoning district with plenty of places to eat, drink and hang out.”

New spots in the district include the Gordon Biersch Brewery and Restaurant, the Howl at the Moon Bar, Ted’s Montana Grill and more.

Next door to the Sprint Center is the College Basketball Experience and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. As Journal Star columnist Steven M. Sipple reported, “basically everything was cool about it,” including indoor courts where people can shoot hoops and a wing where fans can dial up videos of basketball greats.

The district is still a work in progress, with scaffolding covering buildings where other restaurants and entertainment options will soon open.

But the district already is drawing people — and not only for basketball tournaments. On St. Patrick’s Day this week, the Raglan Road Irish Pub was standing room only.

The Qwest Center in Omaha has been the focal point in a similar surge of humanity and festivities for the first round of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

An estimated 50,000-plus fans thronged the city’s entertainment district, pouring into long-established bars like Mr. Toad in the Old Market and new places like the Old Mattress Factory Bar and Grill, known to some as “hoops headquarters.”

The new arena proposed for Lincoln in the West Haymarket District has the potential to host similar activity-generating events on a smaller scale, according to a recent consultant report. The arena, possible new home of Husker basketball, would not compete directly with the Qwest Center since it would have a few thousand fewer seats.

The proposed new Haymarket arena is still far from a done deal. Much careful scrutiny is necessary as the proposal moves through an approval process that will include a public vote.

But local fans who sampled the festivities in Omaha and Kansas City the past few days certainly had their appetite whetted for comparable experiences in their own hometown.