TOURNEYS: Need them in N. Idaho

There is a major discrepancy in this state between the “north” and the “south.” I returned last week from the Idaho State Girls High School Basketball Tournament in Nampa at the Ford United Dairyman’s Association Arena. Happily, the Coeur d’Alene girls won state!

 Here is the glaring issue: All of the teams, their parents and supporters, have to travel every year to Nampa to play. This is also true of the state wrestling tournament and the boys basketball tournament. There may be other high school sports tournaments there, but these are the ones I have just become aware of.

The very first item on their television news was how much money all these tournaments bring into town. Really? Wouldn’t that be nice here, say, every other year? They bragged that 40,000 people attended the girls’ games over the three day period. I know we do not have an arena to accommodate 40,000, and this letter is not a plea to approve building one here. That was the total ticket sales for all of the games (1A, 2A, 3A, 4A and 5A) that were played there, and two area high schools. We were there so I know this to be true: There were not more than 500 people at any one time watching any game; most of the time, less than that. We have plenty of facilities in the Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls area that could hold that many, and more.

I was told long ago that the reason the tournament is at the Ford United Dairyman’s Association Arena is because there exists an agreement that if they built it, it would have to be used for state tournaments. I am asking you to look into this to see if that is true. If it is, when is that contract over? If it is not true, please work to change the lucrative, relatively new tradition of the north having to travel to the south every year. I have attended an Idaho State Girls High School Basketball Tournament at Coeur d’Alene High School in the past, so I know it has not always been in Nampa.

Sadly, because the games are so far away from Coeur d’Alene, 99% of the spectators were parents and grandparents of the team. No cheerleaders. No band. No students. In fact, our student section was occupied by posters with photographs of the team members. We played teams from the south (and beat them all on the court!) and they all had their cheerleaders, band and students to cheer them on.

Teams from the north have won the 5A tournament the last eight years now. The teams from the north and their families have left a lot of cash in the Boise area attending these numerous tournaments. We had airfare, but most everyone else we knew drove. We all had hotel bills. We all had restaurant bills. Most had gas bills. We all had to buy game tickets. Most everyone had shopping and entertainment costs when our team was not playing. The list goes on and on, but you get the idea.

It is beyond time for the Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls and all of north Idaho to benefit financially from state tournaments. It is the perfect time of year to get “heads in beds” and people in area restaurants and shops. Area students deserve to be able to see their classmates compete in sports at the state level.

TINA JOHNSON

Coeur d’Alene