Closer look reveals troubling trends
When Jim O'Boye surveys the wide scope of basketball shootouts that dot the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, he must think, "I should have patented this idea."
The vision hatched nearly two decades ago that started at Northwestern, stopped off at DePaul's Alumni Hall and is now the McDonald's Shootout hosted at Willowbrook High School was a pioneering event of its kind.
Close to 8,000 fans over three days flocked to the 19th event last month in Villa Park.
Basketball's popularity hasn't waned a bit.
Take a closer look, though, and you see how the effects of a troubling economic time have seeped even into this traditional event.
O'Boye noted that the hotel count was down about 25 percent from where it was in previous years. Out-of-town schools like South Bend Washington from Indiana didn't bring as many family members and fans as in the past. People could not afford to travel. Or, in some cases, people stayed just one night for the three-day event.
"That was the first inkling of any effects of the economy," O'Boye said, "was the hotel count."
Finances could factor in another school's decision to return to the shootout next year. North Central, a public school from Indianapolis, has been told that in the future if they travel to any events like this they will have to pay the district $2 per mile and the bus driver $12 an hour to drive the bus. The funds can't come out of the athletic budget, and the program can't hold fundraisers to travel to events such as this one.
North Central may not return in 2010, even though schools do not pay any money to enter the shootout.
"Somebody's going to have to write a check," O'Boye said, "because their school board will no longer give them the money to come to Chicago."
O'Boye said that turnout for area teams was consistent with past years. He will, though, talk to schools about why some fans don't come. He has already spoken to Hillcrest about the possibility of a ticket and bus program whereby admission prices to the shootout would be lowered by $1. People could use that extra $1 to purchase a seat on a fan bus.
"If lowering the ticket price is what it takes to bring people," O'Boye said, "we will do what it takes to stimulate people to come."
O'Boye stresses that he's not in this to make money, and the event isn't just for the marquee teams.
His only cash sponsor is McDonald's. Unfortunately, he only works with McDonald's on one-year contracts and doesn't find out if they will renew until a few months prior to the shootout. Fortunately, McDonald's is one business not taking a dive in the current economic climate.
O'Boye does already have a contract with Willowbrook for Jan. 15-18, 2010. Admittedly, he isn't completely certain what's in store for his brainchild in the years to come. "If we can't sell enough tickets," he said, "we're not going to do it."