The economics of OFSAA basketball

By Michael Hugall

This year marked the third time out of four years Catholic Central high school took the role of host to the highest level of high school basketball in the province.

With sports tourism a topic of debate in Windsor’s city council the notion of bringing in provincial competition is a practice that could set a bench mark for future sporting events. The impact of economic success for this year’s Ontario Federation of School’s Athletic Association ‘AAA’ basketball championship will be felt in the coming weeks as numbers continue to be generated, however, there is a lot of work needed to run it successfully.

The tournament ran from March 7-9 with games being played out of Catholic Central High School, the Honourable W.C. Kennedy Collegiate High School and the St. Clair College SportsPlex.

“I don’t think people realize how many people it actually takes to run this tournament,” said OFSAA Convener, Peter Cusumano. “It takes about 14 people who do a lot of work.”

Cusumano said the preparation for running this tournament was much more than booking hotel rooms.

According to Cusumano,“that is the easy part.”

The tournament included 18 teams ranging from Windsor to Sault St. Marie and involved printing 1,000 programs it is projected to bring in between $7,000 and $10,000 in revenue. As for the amount of hotel rooms for players, coaches and their families, it is estimated around 170 rooms per night were provided.

“The teams generated about $55, 000 dollars in revenue for the hotel along with additional income for our onsite restaurant, Grill 55 which caters to our sports teams,” said Holiday Inn Group Sales Manager Kim MacDonald. “Not only does the hotel benefit from the income generated from these events, but it gives more shifts for our employees, for every 16 rooms occupied.”

MacDonald added the Holiday Inn will be accommodating the upcoming Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association women’s basketball championships at St. Clair College.

In addition to hotel rooms, 55 volunteers were on hand to help accommodate other needs for the 300 athletes.

Cusumano said regardless of the figure it brings into the city, sports tourism is a business that brings good publicity into the city.

“We had no contact with them (the city of Windsor), they had no contact with us … whether they are there or not it makes no difference,” said Cusumano. “ It’s a lot of money, 18 teams staying three, sometimes four, nights … food, hotels, gas. When you add it up it is a lot.”

In order to view the games, 150 passes were sold to the public at $10 a day for adults, $5 for students. Tournament passes were $20 per adult and $10 a student.

Tournaments like these are used as more than just a financial scheme. Participants are exposed to the top calibre teams in the province and run the risk of not meeting the goal of making it to the next level.

Cusumano said it is not just basketball the city benefits from. Swimming, track and field and hockey are other major beneficiaries from hosting sporting events in the City of Windsor.