Everett’s March Madness: The NWAC Basketball Tournaments Bring Tourism to City
The Walt Price Student Fitness Center at Everett Community College is home of the Northwest Athletic Conference men’s and women’s Basketball Championship tournaments, which took place March 7-10 and 16-17. With a total of 32 teams throughout Washington, Oregon and Idaho competing for six days over the course of two weekends, the NWAC Basketball Championships have become Everett’s own March Madness.
Now in its fourth year of operation in Everett, the attendance of the NWAC Basketball Championships has continued to grow, averaging well over 2,000 visitors per year. When it comes to providing insight into the tournament’s budding success, there are few people more qualified to comment on its growth than Everett Athletic Director, Garet Studer.
“It gets easier every year,” said Studer. “By setting up things with volunteers who take tickets and do security, and coordinating with the custodial staff and working with NWAC, we make everything work.”
Prior to becoming Everett’s AD in 2017, Studer spent two years as NWAC’s front office Director of Operations. He also coached and played NWAC basketball at Clark College in Vancouver, WA, which has added to his well-rounded understanding of structuring the tournament.
“I got to see from the conference side when the tourney was in Everett for the first time,” said Studer. “From an outside perspective, the college did a really good job of putting everything together and making it transition in the right direction financially.”
Before moving to Everett, the NWAC Basketball Championships were held in the Tri-Cities for 15 years, where the conference spent over $20,000 in rental fees annually at the Toyota Center in Kennewick. Since relocating the tournaments to the Walt Price Fitness Center, the NWAC has seen significantly higher profit margins, as have local businesses in Everett.
According to the Sports Director of Snohomish County’s Tourism Bureau, Tammy Dunn, the tournament generates more than $1 million each year in tourism revenue for hoteliers and restaurants throughout the city of Everett and Snohomish County.
“We know that 28 of the 32 teams coming into Everett are from at least 50 to 60 miles away, which means people need places to stay for the weekend,” said Dunn. “It also creates the need for families and teams to find places to eat together.”
As Director of Snohomish County’s Sports Division of the Tourism Bureau, it’s up to Dunn and her team to track, analyze, and interpret all sports-related metrics throughout the county. This includes the indirectly-correlated metrics such as how many hotel rooms were booked in the area (over 1,000 rooms between Everett, Marysville, and Mukilteo) and which restaurants thrived (Jimmy John’s on Broadway and the original Brooklyn Bros. Pizzeria on Hewitt) during the tournament.
In fact, Brooklyn Bros. did so well that during the first weekend of the tournament, it ran out of dough on both Saturday and Sunday.
“It was our busiest weekend on record,” said Jonny Elia, who’s worked at the popular pizzeria for more than 11 years. “We came within three pizzas of completely selling out. Thankfully we didn’t have to shut it down.”
The NWAC evaluates its options for hosting sites of the Basketball Championships every three years. With Everett CC having just completed the first year of its second round of hosting, the city’s hotels and restaurants can expect to see an increase in visitors during March for at least the next two seasons. If Studer’s passion for basketball and desire to grow local support of both the school’s athletic department and the NWAC have any influence, the madness will be marching back to Everett for years to come.
“We want to try to grow the general fan base,” said Studer. “We want people to know this tourney is going on and that it’s good basketball. We want people to get exposure to the brand of basketball NWAC and (Everett CC) have to offer.”
2019 NWAC Basketball Championships Tournament Results
Men’s Basketball: Everett lost in the first round of the NWAC Basketball Championships to Lower Columbia, 96-94. North Idaho won the championship over Walla Walla, making it their second consecutive conference win.
Women’s Basketball: Everett did not qualify for the tournament this season. Wenatchee Valley College won the championship over Umpqua Community College.
Nick has a professional background rich in digital marketing and media. His work has appeared in The Seattle Times, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The Post-Standard, and on MSN.com, among others. He has a graduate degree in journalism from Syracuse University, as well as creative writing and philosophy degrees from Seattle University. He grew up in Woodinville and spends his free time playing and coaching baseball, running half marathons, and seeing as much live music as possible.
