Basketball Tournament set to boost local economy
Basketball clubs from across the state will converge on Ballarat across the Labour Day Long Weekend in March when they hit the courts for the 53rd consecutive running of the 2021 Sporting Globe Ballarat Senior Basketball Tournament.
More than 70 teams are expected to take part in the annual event which will be played across the Ballarat Sports Events Centre and Minerdome venues.
The event is estimated to have a significant impact on the local Ballarat business community with the 1,500 attendees and will generate $1.27million in economic output in Ballarat.
City of Ballarat Mayor, Councillor Daniel Moloney was enthusiastic towards events of this nature supporting Ballarat and local businesses.
“With the development of the Ballarat Sports Events Centre this is another great annual event for Ballarat which will see many Basketball participants from many locations and backgrounds visit our region over the Labour Day Long Weekend.”
“It is great to have sport back generally but to give the opportunity for basketballers to hit the courts in a showcase tournament such as this will only be beneficial to the local economy”
“The event itself will provide an estimated direct expenditure of $670,500 in Ballarat and with a flow-on effect contributing to over $1.27million in economic output locally.” Maloney ended with.
Basketball Ballarat CEO Neville Ivey was supportive of the event as many local businesses recover in 2021.
“With job keeper planned to end in March, events like this are really important for the local economy, both for business owners and staff who like many in 2020 are doing all they can to recover after a detrimental year for the tourism industry in Ballarat.” Ivey said.
Ivey added that the long weekend tournament provided another opportunity for many basketballers to get back and active after a disrupted 2020 year for local sport.
“We have teams coming back for their 20th consecutive year in the tournament to other teams entering for the first time so there is a broad demographic of entries this year.”
For many basketballers the feedback has been they are just hungry for court-time and jumping at any opportunity to play as much basketball as they can after a disruptive 2020 to community sport.”
“We are working closely with the State Government around the event to ensure we provide a COVD safe environment for all participants and are excited to host what should be a very successful tournament in 2021.” Ivey ended with.
The event attracts a range of teams across the Premier, A, B, C, Social and Masters Divisions showing the tournament draws a diverse range of participants.
With eight courts available at the Ballarat Sports Events Centre after the Stage 1 development in 2019, and the existing four courts at the Minerdome Basketball Ballarat were comfortable the event is able to be run safely within the covid-19 government regulations.
2021 Sporting Globe Ballarat Senior Basketball Tournament
When: 6th, 7th & 8th March 2021
Locations: Ballarat Sports Events Centre and Minerdome
Divisions: Premier, A, B, C, Social and Masters
Registrations for the event close this Sunday 14th of February with more details available here: https://www.ballaratbasketball.com/senior-tournament-2