CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Coming out in a full uniform and dribbling a basketball to music, Charleston Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin brought plenty of energy to the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center on Tuesday.
Goodwin, city officials and leaders from the arena are confident that same energy will show up in late July for a national basketball event, The Basketball Tournament (TBT).
The city announced the 64-team, $2 million winner-take-all live televised event on the ESPN networks will be coming to Charleston for the regional rounds.
“I am so excited,” Tim Brady, the President and CEO of the Charleston Convention and Visitor’s Bureau (CVB) told MetroNews.
“I am a sports fan, I am a basketball fan. I cannot wait to have this here because this a great basketball town and the whole world is going to see that now.”
The host of the 8-team regional July 24-26 will be the team ‘Best Virginia,’ the West Virginia University alumni team. Players on that team include John Flowers, Kevin Jones, Da’Sean Butler, and Nate Adrian.
In 2019, Best Virginia knocked off Seven City Royalty (Old Dominion University alumni) in the first round of the Richmond Regional in front of more than 1,000 West Virginia fans who traveled to see the team play, a release said.
Brady said the team’s performance mixed with the fan support made TBT officials reach out to Charleston for the event.
“There was a great passion for this team last year. People traveled to Richmond to watch them play in large numbers. TBT stepped back and said ‘There is passion in West Virginia for this team and this product. We should go there,” Brady said.
We heard you loud and clear last summer @finalfourcast fans!
You earned this. See you in Charleston July 24-26.
🎟️TICKETS🎟️: https://t.co/k8o78YfvoF pic.twitter.com/eqvRI4SdbS
— TBT (@thetournament) February 18, 2020
Goodwin said the city is ready to roll out the red carpet for the national event and will continue to look for more things like the TBT.
“There is no such thing as ‘We’ve always had it so we’re getting.’ That philosophy has changed, I can promise you,” she said.
“What’s most important too is looking outside of the box and asking what can we go after.”
Goodwin continued by saying that sports tourism will continue to be at the forefront of her administration.
She said she knows the TBT will bring costs to host but believes the city will recoup the cost tenfold from hotels, shopping, eating, and ticket sales.
“We know that people spend money on sports tourism,” Goodwin said. “Not only just to go to a venue to watch it happen but we also know that parents travel.
“Being a parent of two kids that are in travel sports, people spend that extra money that they have doing that.”
Additional teams will be announced later but former Marshall great Jon Elmore has committed to participate in the regional tournament. His team last tournament called the West Virginia Wildcats featured numerous Marshall alum.
First-round games at the Coliseum will begin Friday, July 24. The remaining four teams will compete in the Regional Semifinals Saturday, July 25, and the Regional Championship will be played Sunday, July 26.
Other regional host sites include Ohio State University, Las Vegas, Jackson, Tennessee, Syracuse, Wichita State, Washington D.C., and Florida. The championship week with each regional winner will be in Dayton, Ohio August 6-11 on ESPN.
“You’re going to have on national television, ‘Live from the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center for three straight days,” Brady said.
“You can’t put a price tag on that.”