FIBA championship drew feet to the core
Tourney drove spike in downtown visitors
An international basketball tournament held at the Meridian Centre June 10 to 16 helped drive a spike in visitors to St. Catharines downtown, a new report says.
The report from St. Catharines economic development says 30,977 visitors were in the downtown area during the FIBA U18 Americas Men’s Championship, measured by pedestrian counts. The busiest day was Friday, June 15 with 5,516 visitors.
That represents a 13 per cent increase in visitors compared to the week before the tournament and a 79.1 per cent hike from the same week in 2017.
The numbers are based on data from the St. Catharines Downtown Association and pedestrian cameras. The report noted that events were also happening at the First Ontario Performing
Arts Centre during the same week which could also contribute to figures.
“We’re pleased with the results,” said Brian York, the city’s director of economic development and government relations, adding the department will be receiving more information on numbers from Meridian Centre’s management company SMG.
“It was a great opportunity to host an international tournament and it put St. Catharines in the spotlight again.”
The FIBA championship featured teams from eight countries playing 24 games over six days.
Related events downtown included a Powering UP street festival on June 9 that drew an estimated 4,000 people to the core and a Wise Guys Charity Fund three-on-three basketball tournament on June 8 that saw 16 teams raise more than $13,000.
“Hosting the community festival festival alongside these events does shine a light on downtown,” York said.
“Our staff are doing some survey work with the businesses to see what kind of impact was created there.”
The report said the event drew 3.7 million viewers through broadcasts on Twitter, Facebook Live and YouTube.
Phil Cristi, director of parks, recreation and culture services, said it was great seeing so many people at the Meridian Centre and the loudest, most positive day was when kids were bused in from schools.
“It was loud and you could feel that Team Canada was feeding off that energy,” Cristi said. “It was a great experience for us to be able to host such a prestigious event and we’ve been told by Canada Basketball and the Canada Summer Games host society that FIBA was thrilled with how the tournament played out here in St. Catharines.”
York said the city is looking forward to more sports tournaments that act as “test events” leading up to the 2021 Canada Summer Games in Niagara.