March Madness is upon us, and that means it’s time to crown a college basketball champion—and to anoint one OTP downtown the best in metro Atlanta for the second year running.

After three weeks of heated competitions and tens of thousands of votes, Alpharetta edged Duluth to become the inaugural victor in the March Madness-style Suburban Smackdown tournament last year.

Again, congrats to A-retta, which certainly bought its A-game in ’23.  

Because Urbanize Atlanta has changed since then (most notably, a paywall went live last month), and to help ensure a fair and honest tourney, we’re implementing important tournament changes, too.

A few quick notes:

  • 1. The 2024 contest will be comprised of the 16 OTP downtowns and city centers that garnered the most pre-tourney NOMINATIONS last year. This will give each original contestant a fair shake, once again.
  • 2. Voting for all Round 1 contests will open at the same time in coming days, with 16 options to vote for in one round
  • 3. The four contestants with the most Round 1 votes will constitute the Final Four. The top two in that contest will determine the Championship.   
  • 4. That makes three contests total. (Our paywall allows for five free stories each month, which will permit proud OTP dwellers new to Urbanize Atlanta to vote in all three contests. Our new sign-in system should also help eradicate nefarious voting.)
  • 5.  The top OTP Downtown of 2024 will be crowned in early April, with many thousands of metro Atlantans watching.

Based on 2023 nominations, which were open to any city within roughly a half-hour of the Interstate 285 perimeter, Alpharetta will take pole position in the 2024 tourney with the most nominations of any OTP downtown, followed by Roswell, Marietta, Lawrenceville, Woodstock, and so forth. See the bracket below. 

Contests will start soon. Can Alpharetta climb atop Suburban Smackdown Mount Olympus and be victorious once again? Or will a fresh champion rise above so many great OTP places to take the throne?

Only time, and your votes, will tell.

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