CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WAND) – A blast from the past is returning to Champaign with the return of the high school boys state basketball tournament.
"Today has just been a historic day,” Jayne DeLuce, President & CEO of Visit Champaign, said. "It was a large group effort to make it a dynamic bid."
After being gone for 25 years, the tournament will return with a one-weekend format and will add wheelchair championship games to the final day of play. Champaign attempted to make a play for the tournament five years ago but failed.
"It is just a great opportunity for everyone involved," DeLuce said. "It is a great way to embrace the diverse culture that we have here.”
The proposal is a three-year bid and is expected to draw thousands and bring in $4 million in revenue to the Champaign-Urbana area. DeLuce believes with the tournament going from two weekends to one, more people will make a weekend trip, rather than an overnight event.
"Let's face it, during this time, we need some positivity, and this has been that bright light and people have said wow there are things to look forward to,” she said.
Hotels across the area are already preparing for the event with managers getting ready for large crowds.
"We are looking forward to it, the whole community and everybody will be thrilled,” Sam Santhanam, President of I-Hotel and Conference Center, said.
Santhanam, along with DeLuce, the University of Illinois and community leaders, have spent the last two-plus years working on the winning bid. Santhanam said the conference center is adding 32,000 square feet to the conference center, where he said coaching clinics will be held during the tournament.
“The waiting game was long,” he said. “Are we going to get it, are we not going to get it, and then we came down to Peoria and Champaign and then finally we got it."
While the current bid is only for three years, the goal is to win big and make Champaign the tournament’s home for years to come.
"We're going to make sure we do it perfect,” he said. “We're going to do it better."
