Tourney topics
- Updated: December 4, 2020
Principals plans for Calhoun County Basketball Tournament include full on-line ticket sales, crowd limits, first day at Saks, Saturday finish
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
Yes, Virginia, there will be a Calhoun County Basketball Tournament this winter and with very limited alternations due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Calhoun County principals met earlier this week for the express purpose of nailing down the details for the marquee event of every athletics year against the backdrop of the virus and a smaller field.
The big takeaways are the tournament returns to a Saturday-to-Saturday format – the finals were on a Friday last year – the first-day schedule will be played at Saks and seating will be limited to 1,200 when it moves to Jacksonville State.
“We’re going to get ready for it, hoping it happens and do whatever we have to do for it,” said Saks principal Jody Whaley, this year’s county tournament series host principal. “If we’ll do the right things between now and then – people wearing masks, social distancing and doing what you’re supposed to do – maybe we’ll make it all the way through.
“We want to make a big deal out of it. It’s the showcase of the year.”
The tournament is scheduled for Jan. 16-23. Because Sacred Heart no longer participates in varsity athletics, it will have a 14-team field. Anniston is the early favorite to be the No. 1 seed in both the boys and girls brackets.
With the JSU Coliseum unavailable the first day, the first five games will be played in Saks’ gym. All games regardless of venue will be played in two-hour intervals to accommodate sanitization efforts.
After a full slate on MLK Monday at JSU, the tournament will continue with three games on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday starting at 4 p.m. to accommodate the two-hour game window. In past years without the two-hour window, they played four games on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
In the event a team in a 6 p.m. game has to withdraw for COVID-19 reasons, the 4 p.m. game would move into the 6 p.m. slot, rather than bumping up the 8 p.m. game and risk the wrath of fans who may miss their game of interest because of a last-minute change.
“I’d love to go home at 8, but the right thing … is to move the 4 to the 6,” Whaley said. “We’re going to hope for the best and prepare for the worst.”
All tournament tickets will be sold online for $8 and to help promote social distancing efforts organizers hope to offer multiple gates at the Coliseum. Capacity at JSU is 3,600 so to meet state and local coronavirus protocols the crowd will be capped at 1,200.
Officials anticipate a fluidness to the crowd, which will help meet the criteria.
“JSU is a great host, we want to be a good visitor,” Whaley said.
Of course, smaller crowds will impact the tournament’s bottom line and organizers are concerned about the ability to pay their bills. The varsity tournament had more than $18,000 in expenses last year. In 2018-19, the tournament had expenses in excess of $17,000, but the county’s 15 schools split a revenue pool of more than $24,000.
To help offset the financial pressure, organizers will be selling ads to local businesses for an enhanced tournament program, engage in other fundraising and look to cut costs elsewhere without sacrificing the quality of the experience.
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