Annual basketball tourney nets spectators, revenue

This year’s tournament continued to gain attention as about 23,000 spectators watched the basketball tourney Jan. 14-16, according to Mark Fisher, athletic director for Springfield R-XII schools, which puts on the event. Attendance topped last year’s event by about 1,000 people, meaning gate receipts will exceed the $119,420 grossed in 2004. Ticket sales for 2005 were not available at press time.

Fisher said that putting the event together every year is a major undertaking. “We invite four out-of-state teams and four in-state (teams), and we pick up the expenses for those teams that fly in, as well as their hotels and meal money,” Fisher said, noting that these expenses were about $70,000 in 2004.

While the school district also covers the costs associated

with using Hammons Student Center on Southwest Missouri State University’s campus, Fisher said that ticket sale revenues fund all of those costs. There is no cost to the school district in terms of actual operating funds.

Any remaining profits are split among the participating schools. Fisher said that last year participating schools split more than $66,000, of which Springfield schools received about $22,000. Figures for the 2005 tournament haven’t been calculated.

“We follow the Missouri State High School Activities Association bylaws as far as giving the money at the end,” Fisher said. “Any profit that’s made on the tournament, we get a third of that, and then the other two thirds are split among the other teams.”

Fisher said the tournament is an important event for the schools.

“It’s about new experiences – getting to meet people from other parts of the U.S.,” he said. “This year we had teams from New York, Wisconsin, Alaska and Tennessee, and it’s a chance to show those people the hospitality of Springfield and southwest Missouri. In fact, Jim Gosz, the head coach of Rufus King (High School) out of Milwaukee, he got up at the breakfast and said, ‘You know, we’ve been here three days, and we’ve yet to meet a jerk.’ I think that says it all right there.”

But the tournament does more for the community than just provide quality entertainment for thousands of basketball fans. It’s also a big boost for area businesses, as well as the profile of the Springfield R-XII Schools.

Bass Pro Shops has been a sponsor of the tournament for 21 years, and spokesperson Larry Whiteley said the company doesn’t help fund the tournament just for the name recognition.

“We’re there for support, to put on the event, to get the prizes and come up with the ideas for different things,” he said. “We make a donation to them, and then we also pay for all the T-shirts for the kids, the coaches’ gifts and things that we do (for them), and the prizes that people win during the game, to keep the fun part of it going.” Both Bass Pro Shops and the Springfield schools declined to discuss the costs of those items.

SMSU also helps with the tournament by providing the facility for the games. Hammons Student Center Director Randy Blackwood said the schools get a discounted rate to use the university facility.

“They pay $2,000 a day plus expenses to stage this event, and they also have a facility fee of 50 cents per ticket sold,” he said. “Candidly, $2,000 a day probably covers the expense for utilities, trash bags, toilet paper for the event, but we don’t make a lot of money on it.” He added that the normal rate is $3,500 per day for use of the student center, but the schools get a discount because they are a educational partners.

But, as Whiteley said, the Springfield schools do most of the work. “Bass Pro has been for 21 years the main sponsor to help put on (the event),” he said. “It’s a teamwork effort between all of us. But when it comes to running the tournament itself and getting the teams, that’s all Mark (Fisher).”