Tourney to boost local economy

Bloomington will get an economic boost this week, and it has girls’ basketball to thank. 

The adidas Hoosier Hardwood Championships will take place from Monday to Wednesday in Bloomington. The tournament will be host to teams of girls age 14 to 17.

Eric Marvin, director of the Hoosier Sports Corporation, said those attending and playing in the games will spend a combined total of $1,267,200.

Marvin said the economic impact is calculated using a formula that multiplies the number of people attending the event times the number of event days and then finally by $88. 

The number of attendees was determined by industry research showing that for girls’ basketball events, on average two other people attend the event along with the participant, and organizers expect 80 teams to participate in the tournament, Marvin said. 

He said the $88 is based on study findings from a few years ago that determined average spending by sports patrons in Monroe County.

Local restaurants, especially those sponsoring the event, are prepared for more customers and business. 

Buffa Louie’s, a sponsor of the adidas tournament, will be providing food for the college coaches doing recruiting Monday, manager Ed Schwartzman said. He said Buffa Louie’s doesn’t sponsor many events but that sponsoring this particular event made sense. Anyone visiting the restaurant on at Kirkwood and Indiana avenues could easily see the connection based on the sports – particularly basketball – memorabilia covering its walls. 

Another sponsor, Yogi’s Grill & Bar, will increase its staff size for the tournament, said manager Chris Karl. Yogi’s will also be providing food, in the form of 100 boxed lunches, for the coaches, Karl said. 

Karl said the close proximity of the event was the reason Yogi’s chose to sponsor the tournament, and that the restaurant should get a good return from it. 

Bryan Alexander, who is organizing the tournament, said its organizers chose Bloomington because it wanted to recreate an experience.

Alexander said when he was a child, he had the camp experience at a college campus, but now the prominence of AAU programs has taken the place of many of those camps. By having the tournament on a college campus, it provides the opportunity for girls to play in a university setting. The tournament expects to welcome 80 teams overall, including 15 teams from Indiana. 

But this event isn’t just for college coaches looking to recruit the next big thing – it is also for the fans. Attendees will be able to see numerous games and potentially a few future IU players. 

Andrea Newbauer, 2010 IU recruit, will be playing with her team, Indiana Elite Central. The point guard from Concordia Lutheran High School in Ft. Wayne said she is excited about potentially playing in Assembly Hall, as she has only played there for camps and hasn’t yet had the experience of a real competition with a crowd. 

The games will be played in Assembly Hall, Bloomington SportsPlex and in Bloomington North and South High Schools.