DAYTON — The city of Dayton, Montgomery County and the University of Dayton are mobilizing forces in preparation for Tuesday’s visit by President Barack Obama and the prime minister of the United Kingdom.

The president and David Cameron will attend the Tuesday evening NCAA First Four men’s basketball games at UD Arena.

The White House has not released details of the visit, but said in Thursday’s announcement of the president’s upcoming visit that Obama is a huge basketball fan.

During a press conference Friday, local organizers talked about the First Four events, which will include a citywide festival Sunday.

They’re hoping to convince the NCAA to make Dayton the permanent home of the First Four.

“The local organizing committee started meeting late last year to decide how we would make this year’s event special,” said Sandy Gudorf, executive director of the Downtown Dayton Partnership, one of the many groups working on what would become the inaugural First Four Festival. She didn’t say if they were pondering a presidential visit in those early meetings.

For security reasons few details are being made available about Obama’s trip to Dayton with Cameron, but some information was released about prep work that has already been done for his visit.

The president’s staff met with UD officials and inspected the arena Wednesday.

Officials said the White House first called the NCAA about Obama wanting to attend, and the NCAA pointed them to UD. Tim O’Connell, senior associate director of Athletics/Facilities and executive director of the arena, said he took the call from the White House on Tuesday.

At that time, O’Connell said, it wasn’t known when the president was arriving.

Fans planning to attend Tuesday’s games will have to wait until Sunday or early Monday for details on how the president’s visit may impact them.

“The details of the visit are still being finalized, so what we’ll do is work backward from that. Once we get notification the visit has been firmed up ... we’ll make sure all of our fans are communicated with,” O’Connell said. He said he hoped to know sometime Sunday or early Monday. “We are going to make it as convenient as possible to our fans. We are probably going to open up early. We’re going to have traffic information for them, information when they come into the building so there’s not an inconvenience to them.”

Todd Bagby, resident agent in charge for the Secret Service, told WHIO-TV that fans should plan to arrive at the arena early. “There will be some (security) screens in place, so give yourself plenty of time ... to get in the arena,” Bagby said.

Where Obama and Cameron will sit also has not been finalized, O’Connell said Friday.

Federal and local law enforcement officials are not permitted to discuss details about the high security assignment, but they say they are ready to assist as needed.

“There is a great deal of cooperation between state, federal and local departments,” said Assistant Chief Col. Mark Hess of the Dayton Police Department, noting that the department expects more high-profile events leading up to the general elections in November.

Bagby said his agency could not do its job without the help of local law enforcement

Besides uniformed Dayton officers on-site, the department will have eight to 12 officers specially trained in dignitary protection. The Ohio Highway Patrol, UD Public Safety, the city fire department and the county sheriff’s office will assist. Sheriff’s Maj. Daryl Wislon said eight members of the regional SWAT team will assist the Secret Service as needed.

City spokesman Tom Biedenharn said Dayton does not expect to be reimbursed for any added expenses from the visit.

The arena and the city have been hosting NCAA tournament games since 2001. Last year, the NCAA expanded the format to include eight teams playing for four spots and tapped Dayton as host through 2013. Area leaders have said they want the First Four to have a permanent home in Dayton and are working to convince the NCAA to keep the event here. The Dayton Convention & Visitors Bureau estimates the First Four will bring $4 million to the local economy.

Organizers have said they have sold more than 10,000 ticket packages for the 13,000-plus seat arena.

Staff writer Doug Harris contributed to this report.