BOISE, Idaho — Idaho Central Arena in downtown Boise rolled out the red carpet to welcome 20 basketball programs - men's and women's - from 10 universities to battle for their respective automatic conference bids to the NCAA Tournament.
The Big Sky Conference started playing their post-season tournaments in Boise at the end of the 2019 season; the following year was cancelled due to concerns surrounding COVID-19.
"[They] need a hotel room to stay in, and they're going to have to go somewhere to eat. And this isn't just the fans - the players that we're talking about. These are the fans; this is the cheer and band team. This is all the staff that comes in to cover the team, the media that comes to cover these teams as well" Visit Boise Sports Sales Manager Lucas Gebhart said. "So, it's really kind of makes a lot of sense for this to be kind of a central hub for this. "
Visit Boise values the local economic impact at $6 million annually. The numbers off the court slightly depend on the outcomes on the court.
"Montana State, for example, is a is a team that travels really well that's a school that travels extremely well for us. So, the longer that they are in this tournament, the better that is going to be for the economic impact,” Gebhart said. "And based off that ticketing information, we think it's anywhere between three to 5000 people come to Boise for this tournament."
The contract between Boise and the Big Sky Conference expires after the 2026 season, according to Gebhart. Boise will have to re-bid the contract with other competing cities. Visit Boise is working to build loyalty with fan bases through promotional event.
"We want them to go out and explore all of our great restaurants. We want them to go rent a bike and go explore the Greenbelt," Gebhart said. "that's kind of what this discount promotion idea is behind. It's another level to how we're able to try to keep this tournament here long term."
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