In March, the Illinois High School Association announced that they had decided to keep the IHSA state basketball tournament in Peoria for five more years — until 2020. It’s not a total shock, considering that the state tournament has been in Peoria for 20 years at Carver Arena inside of the Peoria Civic Center.
Peoria is a fine city and the Carver Arena is certainly an alright place. I’ve been there to see the Peoria Rivermen play professional hockey and I recall making a trip once to watch Bradley University’s men’s basketball team play there. The Civic Center was built in 1982 and was renovated for $55 million as recently as 2007. Because Carver Arena is inside of the Civic Center, it’s almost an ideal spot for the IHSA to stage dinners and their March Madness Experience exhibit in the exhibition hall. It’s a fine place for this tournament to exist if the IHSA, correctly, wants to stay out of Chicago. It’s just fine.
What the location of the tournament is not, though, is great. The IHSA denied a bid from Champaign to host the tournament for the next five years at the renovated State Farm Center. The News-Gazette unearthed the details of the bid through a FOIA request and what the IHSA turned down was pretty jaw-dropping.
- The lure of a renovated State Farm Center, home to basketball “legends” such as Kenny Battle and Nick Anderson.
- Financial commitments totaling $48,000 annually, or $240,000 over five years, from Champaign, Urbana, Rantoul, Savoy, Mahomet and Tuscola.
- Pledges of more than $500,000 over five years from businesses, individuals or other private entities, backed by Visit Champaign County and the UI.
- The potential for a $192,000 net profit for each of the two IHSA tournament weekends, once expenses were deducted.
- Discounted rates and an end to mandatory two-night stays at Champaign-Urbana hotels, which had been accused of gouging IHSA fans in years past.
- An interactive “fan experience” taking advantage of the renovated State Farm Center and Champaign-Urbana’s high-tech capabilities.
- Letters of support from area mayors, UI Chancellor Phyllis Wise and others championing the community’s “urban renaissance,” including a hand-written note from former Rep. Timothy Johnson concluding, “Please list me as a gigantic backer.”
That’s a lot of money and high end support. And of course, having players playing at the premier state school in Illinois and spending a weekend on a major college campus as opposed to Downtown Peoria should be a huge component of this as well. The allure of playing in the same arena and dressing in the same locker room as Illini players and guys that dunk all over the Illini on their way to the NBA would not be lost on high school students. Instead they get to play where Patrick O’Bryant existed for a few seasons before washing out in the NBA. Yes, it’s easy as a resident of Champaign-Urbana to pump our own area’s tires. Of course it is.
But that’s not at the heart of all of this. Because, at face value the IHSA knows that Champaign is the right place to host this tournament. The history of basketball in Champaign is as solid as anywhere else outside of the United Center in Illinois. The heart of the issue is money.
Scott Adreon, principal at Maroa-Forsyth High School and IHSA board member, told the N-G that there was a “significant difference” between Champaign and Peoria’s bids. Without knowing specifics of Peoria’s bid (they won’t release it), the obvious difference is money.
The IHSA estimated that Peoria would be able to provide around 2,000 volunteers. It’s an absolutely bonkers number and it would certainly help cut the monster costs that the IHSA is undertaking as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. That’s certainly understandable and without Champaign’s estimate of volunteer help, it makes sense that the IHSA would want to maximize all of the gigantic amount of money that they spend on this tournament. It’s not free to put on something of this caliber, and the IHSA wants to make sure that it does all it can with the limited budget it has.
That’s why making $192,000 in profit over the course of two weekends is not good enough for them.
That’s correct, the NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION is not satisfied with making $192,000 for two weekends. The tournament is heavily sponsored. The cities surrounding Champaign were offering up tens of thousands of dollars and the University of Illinois is asking for just 10% of the box office so that they can cover overhead and staff.
But that wasn’t good enough for the IHSA to host their tournament at what will be the premier venue for collegiate basketball in the state of Illinois. You see, the NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION that will make considerably more than $192,000 in profit for two weekends is… well, let’s let Scott Adreon tell it:
“At the end of the day, we as a board have to run the IHSA as a business,” he said.
Right. Thanks for clarifying, Scott. By the way, do you guys, as a functioning body of all state high school sports, have to disclose your financials?
The last tenet of the IHSA mission statement says: “IHSA believes integrity and honesty are non-negotiable.”
Of course they do. Unless it revolves around money.