Grand Traverse Resorts Invests In Portable Sports Flooring, Will Host First Basketball Tournament This Weekend
Grand Traverse Resort and Spa is no stranger to sporting functions. The assets on a regular basis hosts tennis tournaments at its health club, and Exclusive Olympics Michigan has employed the Resort as a single of its venues several instances about the a long time. This weekend, though, the Resort will do a thing it’s under no circumstances performed before: host a youth basketball competitiveness.

Basketball tournaments haven’t been amid the Resort’s offerings over the several years because of to the uncomplicated truth that there are no basketball courts on the premises. But thanks to a substantial financial commitment in short-term wood sports flooring, Grand Traverse Vacation resort is now in a position to rework its well being club into a non permanent indoor sporting activities sophisticated. It is a one of a kind system, and 1 the hotel is hoping will grow its demographic access, increase its shoulder period business, and make above 1,000 home nights each individual 12 months.

In accordance to Caroline Rizzo, the Resort’s general public relations supervisor, this weekend’s Novice Athletic Union (AAU) basketball match will attract an attendance of “close to 800 people,” spanning 34 youth basketball teams from Michigan cities like Sault Ste Marie, Chesterfield, Grand Rapids, Dearborn, Bay City, Detroit, Eaton Rapids, Saline, Oscoda, Midland, Cadillac, Gaylord, and Traverse Town.

The match marks the significant premiere of the new athletics flooring, which Rizzo suggests the Resort procured final drop. The occasion is also the begin of a new partnership involving the Resort and FAAST Sporting activities, a downstate-dependent youth sports activities match seller that is effective with travel athletics teams from Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Further than this weekend, FAAST will carry 5 other AAU youth basketball tournaments to the Vacation resort this year, together with gatherings scheduled for March, April, May, and June.

Rizzo tells The Ticker that the FAAST Sports activities partnership will very likely be just the first in a series of efforts by the Vacation resort to break further into the athletics globe. With the flooring, the resort is ready to convert all the tennis court area inside of its overall health club into play place. Currently, the flooring is painted to make it possible for for 4 basketball courts and five volleyball courts, but Rizzo says that athletics like wrestling, dance, and cheer could also be in play.

“We’ve also been in conversation with the Detroit Pistons on hosting camps or tournaments, or other things with businesses like them,” Rizzo provides. “So, you can find a good deal of truly neat potential for some entertaining functions that that could carry individuals up below to Traverse City.”

Even though Rizzo acknowledges that the new flooring was “a sizable expenditure for the Vacation resort,” she also states the business is optimistic that the sizeable upfront spend will pay off in the lthe form of further company. By themselves, the tournaments the Resort previously has on the timetable for this year will generate an estimated 1,200 place nights for the home. But Rizzo also states that, mainly because of its distinctive price proposition as a sporting location, Grand Traverse Vacation resort has likely to improve that number drastically in the long term.

“This is a new initiative for Traverse City in phrases of stay-and-participate in offerings,” Rizzo explains. “It is huge to have every thing come about on just one home – [including] lodging, event enjoy, and facilities. There is no put in the Midwest that at present provides a continue to be-and-participate in solution. You’d have to go to Virginia, Pennsylvania, or Tennessee [to find something comparable].”

In 2018, Traverse Metropolis Tourism (TCT) employed a consulting firm to carry out a feasibility analyze examining the expenses and probable financial positive aspects of setting up a 12 months-spherical indoor athletics complex in Traverse Town. That hard work didn’t eventually guide to a new facility, but Rizzo suggests TCT was swift to jump in as a prime sponsor when the Vacation resort started out discovering the sports flooring selection. Other sponsors include Pepsi, Gatorade, Gordon Food Assistance, and Midwestern Broadcasting.
