For the first time ever, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is coming to Western Canada with four Division I basketball teams as part of the Western Slam event.
The tournament is not just some globetrotting sideshow — the games have real meaning for the players involved.
“These are regular season games for these teams, high-level games,” said Matt Holmes, a spokesperson for On Ice Entertainment.
“These teams badly, badly want to win these games, so it’s going to be full effort. You know, three pointers, dunks, you’re going to see it all from these four teams this weekend, and really encourage fans to get out here to the arena this weekend.”
Four of the top teams in the United States have made the trek to southern Alberta for the first time: UC Irvine, Towson, Kennesaw State and Kent State.
“These are four of, right now at this point in the season, the best mid-major teams in the United States coming up here, trying to get some quality games on their schedule that’ll prepare them for the rest of the season, for their conference tournament and, perhaps, improve their resume to maybe make the NCAA tournament in March,” said Holmes.
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The tournament, which welcomes fans from all over, should score some big points for the economy.
“We know these people are staying in hotels, they’re going to restaurants, we’re hoping we can get them to some of our attractions as well,” said Dominika Wojcik, senior director of communications with Tourism Lethbridge.
She says the event will also draw visitors to Lethbridge from nearby communities looking to take in the action.
“We’re hoping that they spend some money here, and not only that, but we’re also going to be attracting some of our regions. The people from Magrath and Raymond, they’re all going to be coming down to see the show too, so we know we’ll get an economic impact from that as well.”
It’s hoped the event increases Lethbridge’s exposure, putting the city on the map.
“At least, there’s a hundred-plus people coming, because each time has so many people. They have coaches, they have staff. On top of that, their families are probably joining them and they’re all coming from the U.S., which we know that that is a great target for us to get more people down to Lethbridge.”
The tournament runs from Thursday to Saturday, with two games each evening. Tickets can be found at westernslam.ca.
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