OHIO COUNTY, W.Va. (WTRF)–One of West Virginia’s best known basketball tournaments will officially be coming to the Ohio Valley.
This tournament is said to shine a light on all that Wheeling has to offer and grow the city’s economy.
The Friendly City has gained another huge sporting event.
For the first this summer, Wheeling and WesBanco Arena will serve as a host site for The Basketball Tournament’s 2023 West Virginia regional.
Wheeling is one of TBT’s eight regional locations this year.
Best Virginia, the West Virginia University alumni team continues to serve as the regional host.
Now basketball lovers aren’t the only ones who can benefit from this.
Mayor Glenn Elliott says this tournament will bring in new faces to the area and local business will profit from the boost of visitors.
This tournament over the last two years has been in Charleston. It had a lot of economic impact. Somewhere between $10 and $15 million dollars of local economic impact. We’re going to bring that to Wheeling. It’s going to be good for hotels. It’s going to be good for restaurants. Really good for downtown retailers as well so it’s something we can’t be more excited about. It really speaks to the investments that have been made into this facility over the last 10 years or so to make a tournament like this coming here possible.
Mayor Glenn Elliott, The City of Wheeling
He says people will be talking about Wheeling who might have not even heard of it before.
His only concern is the construction on Main Street, but Mayor Elliott asks visitors to look past the orange barrels and enjoy all the amazing things the Valley has to offer.
TBT is set to take place in late July.
Tickets will go on sale on April 1st.
