Youth basketball national championship tourney draws 5,000 competitors to Wichita

At this weekend’s Mid America Youth Basketball National Championship in Wichita, more than 5,000 boys will compete – all for different reasons.

Elias and Mateo Hernandez, 11-year-old twins hailing from New Mexico, said they want their team to place higher than it did in last year’s competition.

Chace Thigpen, a 12-year-old Texan, fundraised with his team for months to compete in their first big away tournament.

Tristan Sierecki, a 15-year-old from Wisconsin, said he is hoping to catch the eye of college recruiters.

Their motivations may differ, but one thing the boys and their out-of-state families have in common: They’re providing a boost to the local economy as they drop hundreds of dollars on hotel rooms, restaurant meals and rental cars.

Almost 90 percent of the tournament’s 490 teams are from outside Kansas, said Greg Raleigh, president of Mid America Youth Basketball, which is based in Newton. Factor in a parent or two for each athlete, and Wichita will play host to nearly 15,000 people for the tournament, which began Thursday and runs through Sunday.

“Youth sports tournaments are really great for destinations like us,” said Maureen Hofrenning, Visit Wichita’s vice president for sales. “We’re not always on people’s radar, but we are a really family friendly destination, so once people get here, they see that.”

Visit Wichita anticipates that close to 5,000 hotel rooms will be booked and that popular attractions like the Sedgwick County Zoo will see an uptick in attendance, Hofrenning said.

Mid America Youth Basketball no longer estimates how much money the annual tournament generates for the city.

Several parents interviewed for this story said they expected to spend at least $500 on food and lodging. Multiply that by roughly 5,000 families, for example, and the city’s tourism industry could be looking at about $2.5 million.

A different era

Gone are the days of pickup games and backyard contests. The world of youth sports has been transformed by competitive leagues, travel teams and tournament play.

Tristan, the 15-year-old hoping to impress college recruiters, said he travels to a different tournament almost every weekend.

“Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas,” he said, ticking off his most recent travels on his hand.

“Families will forgo a one-week vacation,” said Don Schumacher, executive director of the National Association of Sports Commissions. “What they choose not to forgo are opportunities to travel with their kids to these events.”

The National Association of Sports Commissions calculated just under $9 billion in direct visitor spending for events its members hosted in 2014.

“The industry’s continued to grow right on through the recession,” Schumacher said.

As the sports landscape becomes increasingly organized, families have begun to plan vacations around these events. Some families extend their stay in the area and sightsee simply because they already paid to travel there for the tournament, Schumacher said.

“A lot of people make a trip out of it,” said Brian Isaac, father of a 15-year-old competing in the tournament. “We had a tournament in Vegas. How do you afford that? We made it into a family vacation, saw the Hoover Dam, that sort of thing.”

Parents who planned to stay only for the tournament still found ways to enjoy the city.

Kevin Mullany and his son Conor flew from Albuquerque for the tournament. They arrived at their hotel, in Old Town, on Wednesday night and enjoyed a dinner at River City Brewery.

Mullany is hoping to squeeze in a visit to Old Cowtown Museum and a barbecue joint somewhere in their schedule. He estimates the four-night trip will cost about $1,400.

“Wichita is a nice, clean Midwestern city,” he said. “I’d recommend it to family and friends.”

This story was originally published July 30, 2015 at 7:22 PM with the headline "Youth basketball national championship tourney draws 5,000 competitors to Wichita."