ONE of the city's biggest economic boosting events is back in action after two years on the sidelines.
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Basketball Ballarat's Queen Birthday junior tournament is set to draw about 270 teams for the three day weekend with a projected $4.9million injection into hospitality, accommodation and tourism.
This is also the first time the tournament will put Selkirk Stadium, the city's new $24 million playing arena, to test on what basketballers had long lobbied governments: greater, modernised capacity to host large scale tournaments.
The popular annual carnival has been in hiatus the past two years - last year cruelled by a lockdown a week out from play. Selkirk Stadium, formerly known as Ballarat Sports and Events Centre, opened in July 2019, one month after the Queen's Birthday tournament.
Basketball Ballarat chief executive Neville Ivey said record team entries should notice the difference.
The tournament will play out across 20 courts including eight at Selkirk Stadium on top of the Minerdome and school-based courts at Ballarat High School, Loreto, St Patrick's College and Damascus College.
This is a stark contrast to using 17 courts across 11 venues in the region.
A further four courts in a new basketball stadium at Phoenix College in the city's south are weeks away from opening and could potentially come into tournament play from next year.
Now we've got Selkirk Stadium we have just a smidge more competitive advantage lobbying for big events...What Selkirk Stadium has done is put us on the map.
- Basketball Ballarat chief executive Neville Ivey
"Now we've got Selkirk Stadium we have just a smidge more competitive advantage lobbying for big events," Mr Ivey said. "This is regarded in basketball as the Ballarat tournament but others that we compete for will look at what facilities we've got. What Selkirk Stadium has done is put us on the map."
Mr Ivey said the stadium design had a well-activated frontage with three-on-three courts right down to a wide variety of healthier food options in the canteen.
He said both were well-noticed factors when Basketball Ballarat played host to Basketball Australia's national junior championships, backed up by the Victoria Country championships this year.
Conservative estimates have at least 3000 attendees in Ballarat for the 49th running of the tournament this long weekend, including players, officials and families for age groups from under-12s to under-18s.
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Former Basketball Ballarat chief executive Peter Eddy, now a City of Ballarat councillor, was a key driver in lobbying for the stadium redevelopment to keep the sport thriving in Ballarat.
Mr Eddy said multi-court stadiums were key to big tournaments both in logistics and experience.
"If you've got a kid going to a country tournament, the one thing that sticks in their head is all the teams in the big venue," Mr Eddy said. "If you're from, for example Sunbury and playing an under-14s match on the one court at Eastwood Street, then it just feels like any other basketball game.
"A multi-court stadium and all those things that go with it make the event what it is."
If you've got a kid going to a country tournament, the one thing that sticks in their head is all the teams in the big venue.
- Peter Eddy, former Basketball Ballarat chief executive
Mr Eddy said there had been a resurgence in basketball coming out of lockdowns and while there were quality venues in Bendigo and Werribee, Ballarat could now hold its own.
He said the tournament had traditionally filled an otherwise quiet spot on the city's tourism calendar, weeks out from the growing winter festival.
"As a city we should be proud of the fact our winter is bracing and chilly," Mr Eddy said. "We should be having events indoors like this basketball tournament, like ice-skating or the Winter Wonderlights outside at Sovereign Hill."
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