The week after the national under 14 girls tournament finished, another major basketball event has been announced for Ballarat's brand new Sports and Events Centre.
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The hundreds of people travelling to Ballarat for the national under 18 mens and womens championships and the Peter Coombs wheelchair basketball cup in April next year will provide a surge in business for hospitality providers hoping to keep the city humming after Easter.
As well as the 32 teams, their coaches and support staff, the full complement of referees, talent scouts, and spectators could potentially stay for at least eight nights in Ballarat.
Commerce Ballarat chief executive Jodie Gillett said the announcement was "exciting".
"Easter is very difficult for our business community, and now that we know this is coming, with plenty of notice, the businesses can get in early and encourage families to spend more time in Ballarat," she said.
"We know the economic benefit from basketball tournaments are huge, the new stadium is incredible - (Basketball Ballarat chief executive) Peter Eddy and his team up there are doing a great job of attracting loads of visitors to Ballarat."
Owner-operator at the Sovereign Park Motor Inn, Tim Canny, said the event was being held at a "sensational" time.
"It's after school holidays, so it's great to see Ballarat's attracting events outside of the peak times," he said.
"There's economic reasons to have a good calendar that's really spread out."
He added hospitality businesses would not be the only beneficiaries.
"It trickles to all of the city, it gives our casual workers plenty of work and they spend money in the city too, it's a huge economic boost to the city," he said.
"With the great stadium now, hopefully they'll get even more tournaments - we're excited at what the potential is for Ballarat."
Basketball Ballarat's operations manager Mark Valentine said the city had hosted the event in 2015, but had held off from on pushing for its return until the new stadium was complete.
"There's certainly competition (for the event) - Bendigo is in a similar marketplace, Traralgon, Werribee, which has a big stadium now, and there's a new stadium in Melton, let alone interstate, tenders are open to anybody across the country," he explained.
"(The stadium) is aiming its sights at major sporting tournaments and carnivals, and to have its second in six months is good.
"Clearly, the events of last week would show the venue is entirely suitable to running these sorts of events, basketball or netball."
In a statement, City of Ballarat mayor Samantha McIntosh said the new centre showed Ballarat was now "competitive" in securing big events.
"Attracting events such as Australian Championships and Kevin Coombs Cup is an integral part of the City of Ballarat's events and visitor strategies," she said.
"The recent development of the national standard $24 million Ballarat Sports Event Centre has positioned Ballarat and the region firmly back into the sports events market".
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