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Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Visitors make their presence felt at fan sites, local businesses around Spokane
Mar. 30—Downtown Spokane was crawling with visitors this weekend, much to the benefit of Spokane businesses. Visitors from near and far have descended on Lilac City for a pair of prominent athletic events: the second weekend of the Pacific Northwest Qualifier tournament for high school volleyball players and the NCAA March Madness regional for women's basketball teams competing in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight rounds. The crowds resulted in a lot of foot traffic for local eateries, bars and boutiques, as well as a fair amount of sales tax generated for local municipalities. The 9.8 million visitors to Spokane in 2023 spent nearly $1.5 billion, resulting in $227 million in state and local tax revenues, according to Visit Spokane. "It's so awesome to see there's so many people out on the streets, like obvious high school volleyball players and sports fans, and just everybody's out shopping and got their Nike bags and Apple bags, Lego bags," said Kate Hudson, director of public relations for the tourism promotion organization. "And I'm like, 'Yay, they're spending money and enjoying our city.'" Those visitors play a crucial role in ensuring local businesses and restaurants are able to survive, especially after the lean winter months. "Just Spokane alone would not be able to keep all of these restaurants afloat," Hudson said. "It's thanks to our visitors and tourists and meeting attendees and conference attendees." Those in town for the basketball games at the Spokane Arena had some pointers on where to pop into, courtesy of the Downtown Spokane Partnership and Spokane Sports. The business and sports advocacy groups partnered with eight local restaurants and bars within walking distance to the arenas to serve as "fan sites" for their respective fan bases. For example, supporters of Louisiana State University were recommended Lord Stanley's as a home base, while University of Oklahoma fans were recommended The Onion Taphouse and Grill just down the street on Riverside Avenue. Other fan sites included Brick West Brewing Company, Mac Daddy's and Shawn O'Donnell's Grill and Irish Pub. The Swing Lounge boasted a bevy of North Carolina State Wolfpack fans Friday afternoon, all sporting a hoodie, t-shirt or pack in the school's signature bright red. All weekend long, fans are able to rent out the cubbies typically used for virtual golf as private screening rooms for the games. Rachel Tibbits, who co-owns the lounge with her husband, Alex Tibbits, said the lounge had a steady stream of customers all day. They wanted to participate in the fan site program "to support what's going on in Spokane," she said. They also had their own interests in mind. "We just love March Madness; we're big fans of basketball," Tibbits said. Wolfpack fan Ann Sutton, and her husband Brad Sutton, mingled with fellow alumni at the lounge a few hours before their team was set to tip off in a match up with LSU. They arrived in Spokane on Tuesday and have greatly enjoyed their visit so far, she said. Sutton said she completely understood why Al Roker and company at The Today Show named Spokane a top spring travel destination. In particular, she's a fan of "how clean and walkable" the city is, the gondola ride over Spokane Falls and the beauty of Riverfront Park. "I thought it was great that the city had the foresight and planning for that," Sutton said of the park and neighboring Centennial Trail. The ravings about the cleanliness of Spokane is due to the hard work of the Downtown Spokane Partnership clean team, and city of Spokane contracted cleaning crews, who bolstered their year round efforts over the past few weeks to give the city a fresh face for incoming travelers. Tibbits sang their praises Friday, as well as the work of Visit Spokane and Spokane Sports to bring business to town. Tim O'Doherty, owner of the fan site for Kansas State University Wildcats, O'Doherty's Irish Pub, echoed Tibbits' sentiment. He said the business advocacy group has been a great resource for local owners year round. In his nearly 35 years of business along Spokane Falls Drive, O'Doherty said he's seen quite a few PNQ's roll through Spokane. The volleyball teams, their families and fans have popped in over the last two weekends, but not as many as he's seen in past years. He hadn't seen many collegiate basketball die-hards as he'd hoped as of Friday afternoon, but that's likely to change over the weekend. All that aside, March is his busiest month of the early end of the year, he said, with St. Patty's Day and associated parade day typically bringing in more revenue than the entire month of February. O'Doherty isn't too worried about the business side of things. He looks forward to the summer and enjoys the personal interactions with visitors, asking them what they think about the town and answering any questions they may have. "For me personally, it's been great," O'Doherty said. "They linger, they're very friendly. "They ask me about Hoopfest, ask me about John Stockton, they talk to me about Gonzaga," he added with a chuckle. Reporter Garrett Cabeza contributed to this report.
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
There's less March Madness chaos this year in Spokane, with fewer teams and lessons learned
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — With fewer teams, games and fans in town, there's a lot less chaos in Spokane for the NCAA Tournament. The city is hosting women's tournament games at Spokane Arena. Top overall seed UCLA and its 6-foot-7 All-America center Lauren Betts were among the eight teams in town. Located in eastern Washington, just about 100 miles south of the Canadian border, Spokane is a mid-sized city that is somewhat unique in that it is a frequent March Madness host. The men's tournament has included games in Spokane six times since 2003. The women's tournament has had games at the arena four times and seven times in the city overall. 'Spokane has a long history of hosting championships,' said Ashley Blake, chief executive officer of Spokane Sports, the regional sports commission. 'Spokane is a city that shows up for sports. And this tournament is really no exception. So having that reputation and that experience in our city is really the catalyst for why these tournaments keep selecting Spokane." But it hasn't always gone smoothly. The area drew unwanted attention last year when there was a perfect storm of sporting events that descended on the city all at the same time. There were men's tournament games and a youth volleyball tournament with more than 700 young players. On top of that, Gonzaga's women secured a spot in the tournament, too. And as the highest seed, the Zags were given early-round games as host, playing at the school's McCarthey Athletic Center — with just a few days' notice. With all those teams, athletes and fans in the city at the same time, there was a shortage of suitable hotel rooms. NCAA rules dictate team hotels must meet minimum standards and have proper facilities. As a result, some of the women's teams were housed in hotels across the border in Idaho, more than a 30-minute drive from downtown Spokane, and that area turned out to be a flashpoint for controversy. Players for Utah's women's team were walking to a team dinner in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, when the driver of a pickup truck flying a Confederate flag shouted racist language at them. The Utes were moved from the hotel the next day. 'We had several instances of some kind of racial hate crimes toward our program and (it was) incredibly upsetting for all of us,' then-Utah women's coach Lynne Roberts said at the time. Roberts is now coach of the LA Sparks of the WNBA. "In our world, in athletics and in university settings, it's shocking. There's so much diversity on a college campus and so you're just not exposed to that very often.' Idaho authorities revealed after a two-month investigation that an 18-year-old man admitted to using the racial slur, but the Coeur d' Alene city attorney declined to bring hate crime charges. This year is very different. With no men's tournament games scheduled, the issue is largely moot. But the sports commission said it learned about better ways to deal with congestion in the future. Spokane is next set to host men's games in 2027. 'I think the biggest thing is acknowledging what happened. It's a reminder of this responsibility we all share and making sure that athletes feel supported, respected and safe when they come here to compete," Blake said. Connecticut star Paige Bueckers marveled at the sellout crowd expected for her team's Sweet 16 game against Oklahoma on Saturday. Bueckers also competed as a high school student with USA Basketball in Spokane, which has earned the nickname Hooptown for its many NCAA Tournament games, both Gonzaga teams and an annual 3-on-3 summer tournament. 'It means everything to us to be able to travel across the country and get the amount of support," she said. 'It's a great basketball community. They love basketball here, they love women's basketball, so it will be exciting.' In conjunction with this year's tournament games, the city launched the 'Spokane Champions Women in Sports' campaign and is holding several events that help 'make sure that our teams and our fans and our media, when they come here, they see and feel the support of our community.' And it doesn't end with March Madness. 'Right after this tournament, we roll right into USA Wrestling's women's nationals, which will have about 2,000 athletes and their spectators and their families who come alongside," Blake said. "So we really use this platform to launch and start telling the story of what sports tourism means for Spokane and specifically on the women's side as well.' ___ AP March Madness bracket: and coverage: Anne M. Peterson, The Associated Press
Associated Press
29-03-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
There's less March Madness chaos this year in Spokane, with fewer teams and lessons learned
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — With fewer teams, games and fans in town, there's a lot less chaos in Spokane for the NCAA Tournament. The city is hosting women's tournament games at Spokane Arena. Top overall seed UCLA and its 6-foot-7 All-America center Lauren Betts were among the eight teams in town. Located in eastern Washington, just about 100 miles south of the Canadian border, Spokane is a mid-sized city that is somewhat unique in that it is a frequent March Madness host. The men's tournament has included games in Spokane six times since 2003. The women's tournament has had games at the arena four times and seven times in the city overall. 'Spokane has a long history of hosting championships,' said Ashley Blake, chief executive officer of Spokane Sports, the regional sports commission. 'Spokane is a city that shows up for sports. And this tournament is really no exception. So having that reputation and that experience in our city is really the catalyst for why these tournaments keep selecting Spokane.' But it hasn't always gone smoothly. The area drew unwanted attention last year when there was a perfect storm of sporting events that descended on the city all at the same time. There were men's tournament games and a youth volleyball tournament with more than 700 young players. On top of that, Gonzaga's women secured a spot in the tournament, too. And as the highest seed, the Zags were given early-round games as host, playing at the school's McCarthey Athletic Center — with just a few days' notice. With all those teams, athletes and fans in the city at the same time, there was a shortage of suitable hotel rooms. NCAA rules dictate team hotels must meet minimum standards and have proper facilities. As a result, some of the women's teams were housed in hotels across the border in Idaho, more than a 30-minute drive from downtown Spokane, and that area turned out to be a flashpoint for controversy. Players for Utah's women's team were walking to a team dinner in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, when the driver of a pickup truck flying a Confederate flag shouted racist language at them. The Utes were moved from the hotel the next day. 'We had several instances of some kind of racial hate crimes toward our program and (it was) incredibly upsetting for all of us,' then-Utah women's coach Lynne Roberts said at the time. Roberts is now coach of the LA Sparks of the WNBA. 'In our world, in athletics and in university settings, it's shocking. There's so much diversity on a college campus and so you're just not exposed to that very often.' Idaho authorities revealed after a two-month investigation that an 18-year-old man admitted to using the racial slur, but the Coeur d' Alene city attorney declined to bring hate crime charges. This year is very different. With no men's tournament games scheduled, the issue is largely moot. But the sports commission said it learned about better ways to deal with congestion in the future. Spokane is next set to host men's games in 2027. 'I think the biggest thing is acknowledging what happened. It's a reminder of this responsibility we all share and making sure that athletes feel supported, respected and safe when they come here to compete,' Blake said. Connecticut star Paige Bueckers marveled at the sellout crowd expected for her team's Sweet 16 game against Oklahoma on Saturday. Bueckers also competed as a high school student with USA Basketball in Spokane, which has earned the nickname Hooptown for its many NCAA Tournament games, both Gonzaga teams and an annual 3-on-3 summer tournament. 'It means everything to us to be able to travel across the country and get the amount of support,' she said. 'It's a great basketball community. They love basketball here, they love women's basketball, so it will be exciting.' In conjunction with this year's tournament games, the city launched the 'Spokane Champions Women in Sports' campaign and is holding several events that help 'make sure that our teams and our fans and our media, when they come here, they see and feel the support of our community.' And it doesn't end with March Madness. 'Right after this tournament, we roll right into USA Wrestling's women's nationals, which will have about 2,000 athletes and their spectators and their families who come alongside,' Blake said. 'So we really use this platform to launch and start telling the story of what sports tourism means for Spokane and specifically on the women's side as well.'
