By Paul Post
“It stings. We rent hundreds of hotel rooms just to the athletes, let alone all the fans that come from all over New York state, so it’s a big hit for the local economy.” — Jeff Mead, Cool Insuring Arena general manager.
“Four hundred room nights in any month is a blow, especially March. The bigger economic impact for the county is sales tax. Everything from Stewart’s to The Bullpen, Raul’s, and all the other great restaurants downtown. Before and after games, everybody goes to lunch, goes to dinner and fills up their gas tanks. That’s where you’re going to see the biggest loss.” — Tyler Herrick, Queensbury Hotel general manager.
“This setback is a significant loss. The tournament not only generates a direct economic impact, but also serves as a means to promote Lake George and Warren County for prospective future tourism visits.” — Gina Mintzer, Lake George Chamber of Commerce executive director.
These are among the many impacts that will be felt locally following Glens Falls’ loss of the New York State high school basketball championships from 2025-27.
Glens Falls hosted the weekend-long event, held each March, for 35 years from 1981 to 2016 when Binghamton was awarded a three-year contract.
Glens Falls won it back and hosted this year’s tourney from Thursday, March 14 to Sunday, March 17, only to lose it again to Binghamton in a highly-controversial recent decision.
“For NYSPHSAA (New York State Public High School Athletic Association) it comes down to financials,” Mead said. “That’s the bottom line for them. The local committee here would argue that our bid was just as strong and felt NYSPHSAA did not read the bid as it was presented to them. That’s part of the controversy.”
Depending on which schools participate, how far away they come from and who they match up against, the tourney has drawn upwards of 35,000 people some years, especially when local teams are involved.
Under its current contract, Cool Insuring Arena hosts the event at no charge, but keeps all concession revenue.
“We love hosting it here, but hotels, restaurants and retail stores will see a much bigger hit than us,” Mead said. “That’s part of the reason we’re here, to support local business in Glens Falls and Warren County. Come next March we’ll miss the event.”
The local area will suffer a roughly $6 million loss, $2 million per year, from 2025-2027 based on Destinations International Economic Impact Calculator estimates.
“The tool evaluates the number of attendees, ticket price, the organizer-arena-local organizing committee expenses and the value of in-kind/hosting costs among other input factors,” Mintzer said. “This particular piece of business realizes a 946 percent return on the investment of hosting costs. The tourney draws the best of the best in high school basketball, which also brings college recruiters and others to town that fly in under the radar, in addition to families and fans.”
“Visitors often reminisce about their experiences long after departing,” she said. “For aspiring student-athletes, the prospect of playing in the same arena as iconic figures like Jimmer Fredette and Joe Girard has been eagerly anticipated.”
In addition to business impacts, the tourney’s absence will cost local government more than $50,000 per year in the form of sales tax ($35,000) and occupancy tax ($15,900).
The tournament supports more than 600 jobs, Mintzer said.
“That’s what it comes to when you dig deep and look at the arena staff, NYSPHSAA staff, local restaurants, hotels and retailers that all benefit from this type of event as well as the schools that participate and those involved in basketball athletics,” she said.
The Queensbury Hotel hosts all of the athletes, coaches, basketball referees and out-of-town organizing committee members, totaling approximately 400 room nights.
Queensbury Hotel’s owners also own Fairfield Inn & Suites at Exit 18, which sells another 150 room nights to fans.
In addition to these establishments, the tournament typically contracts with the Holiday Inn Resort in Lake George, based on specific requirements, and may utilize the Holiday Inn Express & Suites (Exit 18) and the Fort William Henry Hotel and Courtyard by Marriott in Lake George, Mintzer said.
Fans have many other places to choose from, depending on individual budgets and preferences, such as the Hampton Inn, Home2 Suites, Sleep Inn, Quality Inn and Six Flags Lodge.
The tourney’s loss is a particularly tough pill to swallow for Lake George officials, which have done a great deal to promote their popular summer resort town as more of a year-round destination. Warren County has committed $3 million to the new Winter’s Dream attraction at Fort William Henry museum, adjacent to the Winter Realm night-time light show at Charles R. Wood Park’s Festival Commons.
During the tourney, local tourism officials have a booth set up in the Cool Insuring Arena lobby, giving fans information about local attractions with a goal of generating future vacation visits.
“Most hotels actively gather visitor information, allowing for targeted outreach to encourage future stays,” Mintzer said. “Additionally, signage strategically guides visitors to explore the local attractions while they are in town.”
Replacing the highly popular state tourney with other events won’t be easy.
“We’ll try to capture another conference or some type of event,” Herrick said. “It happens in our industry. You don’t always get the same groups coming back every year. It’s our job as sales managers to find a new avenue for business.”
Glens Falls will continue to host the week-long Section II high school basketball tourney, held this year from Monday, Feb. 26 to Saturday, March 2.
For Cool Insuring Arena, the unfortunate basketball news is softened a bit by the success of this year’s Adirondack Thunder hockey team, both on and off the ice. The first-place Thunder have had several sell-out crowds of more than 5,000 people and drew more than 100,000 fans to the first 25 home dates, averaging more than 4,000 per game for the first time in franchise history.
Mintzer said the Lake George Chamber will be active, trying to help bring some new type of event to Warren County next March.
“We use the Playeasy platform to research events occurring in the same time frame that require specific logistics,” she said. “Steve Magee, our group sales manager, will collaborate with the Playeasy team to identify suitable sporting events and initiate the prospecting process. Simultaneously, the arena will likely review other event opportunities that might have been declined due to prior bookings during that period.”
“We will also conduct research to identify ‘lost’ business that may have considered the region for their events, but were deterred due to unavailable dates, rates or accommodation,” she said. “Recognizing the abundant opportunities, our team composed of knowledgeable individuals is dedicated to overcoming this setback by exploring various avenues and ensuring that it does not impede our progress.”