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Girls basketball state finals give area economy boost

In an interesting twist to Saturday’s girls basketball state finals at Memorial Coliseum, the game with the two largest schools was the one that might have kept the attendance down significantly from last year’s record-setting crowd.

The final numbers had 12,564 fans in the two sessions in the first girls basketball state finals held outside Indianapolis, but that number was buoyed by the high interest in the Class A, 2A and 3A games.

Ben Davis’ record-setting 99-52 romp over Merrillville in the 4A game didn’t exactly get the crowd, but mainly because the Giants’ faithful is used to playing almost all of their postseason games in Indianapolis.

“I am not upset with the attendance,” said IHSAA commissioner Blake Ress after 22,000 turned out last year at Lucas Oil Stadium.

“I thought the first three games, the attendance was really pretty good with the six teams we had involved. If we would have had two 4A teams who traveled well, it would have been much better.

“It wouldn’t have mattered where it was, Merrillville would have traveled and not had more fans, but Ben Davis is spoiled because they are not used to traveling at all.”

Ress said it will take about seven to 10 days to calculate the numbers from the eight games.

“I am hopeful when we analyze things that we will be where we normally are at because the bid was better than what we have had in Indianapolis,” he said.

“It was less than we have had in Indianapolis, but I anticipated that because we have more of an opportunity of walk-ins in Indianapolis than we do in Fort Wayne. Last year, our attendance was the highest it had ever been, but we had a matchup you don’t normally get between South Bend Washington and Ben Davis in the 4A, which was nationally an important game.”

Despite fewer out-of-towners being in Fort Wayne because of the presence of three schools from the Summit City, the numbers may turn out to be pretty good from an economic standpoint, said Dan O’Connell, president of the Fort Wayne/Allen County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

“We were after getting the state finals here, and the economic impact is a bonus,” O’Connell said.

“I thought it was outstanding that we had three teams from Fort Wayne in it because attendance is also a critical factor that the (IHSAA) was looking at.”

Traffic increased significantly over the weekend, according to O’Connell, who said he spoke with people at four hotels and a couple of restaurants in the area around Memorial Coliseum.

“There was a bump in business,” O’Connell said. “It is all related to the state finals being here.”

He did point out that business was helped also by three other events – bowling, dance and swimming – being in town.

If a scheduling conflict arises again in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne has positioned itself to again welcome girls basketball teams and fans next year, according to O’Connell.

“I believe we have achieved our goal to demonstrate the tournament can have a championship feel in Fort Wayne,” he said. “That means we should be in the front of the line if they have to move out of Indianapolis.”

gjones@jg.net