Deadline Today For 2000 Hoopfest World’S Biggest Street Tourney Expected To Set Record

Want to play Hoopfest but think you’ve missed the deadline?

Get moving. Entries will be accepted through 2 p.m. today at the Hoopfest office downtown on Riverside.

Late registration processed Friday and today will push the world’s largest street basketball tournament to another record.

As organizers count the last entries today, it appears that the June 24-25 event will exceed last year’s record 20,600 players, Hoopfest executive director Rick Steltenpohl said Friday.

A total of 5,231 teams played last year. This year’s count reached 5,200 Friday and was expected to peak closer to 5,300.

That’s about 21,000 players.

The numbers are staggering. No other tournament in the country exceeds 4,000 teams, Steltenpohl said.

“When we started we never imagined we’d reach 5,000 teams,” he said.

The layout is the same as last year, with courts from Mallon near the Flour Mill south to Sprague. The eastern boundary on Spokane Falls Boulevard is Washington. Courts will extend east of that to Browne on other east/west avenues.

Construction at River Park Square changed the original configuration of the event. Hoopfest organizers are in the second year of a two-year agreement with Downtown Spokane Partnership that eliminated potential disagreements over street use, Steltenpohl said.

Finals in the Action Sportswear Men’s 6-foot-and-over Division will be carried live on KREM-2. Last year’s champion, Da Bus Drivers from Tacoma, will return to defend their title. They upset Team Grainger from Atlanta in the championship game. Team Grainger is also returning.

“Team Grainger travels the country and won every tournament they entered but ours,” Steltenpohl said.

They’ll have plenty of competition again. Hoopfest will also bring in teams from Chicago, Los Angeles and Phoenix.

Marquee games will be played at an expanded center court. New bleachers that will seat 1,500 were rented and will be set up deeper into the park, in the Central Meadow area closer to IMAX theater, Steltenpohl said.