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Nazareth, Pa., United States

Thursday, March 02, 2017

7,600 Attend District XI Boys' Basketball Doubleheader

Don't think basketball is popular?  Get a load of this. According to The Morning Call's Keith Groller, over 7,600 people attended last night's District XI Boys Basketball double header semifinals at PPLCenter in downtown Allentown. My grandson and his mom were there. I wanted to go but was unable because of a hearing in Bethlehem Township that ended up being continued.

Throughout this year's playoffs, and at all levels, the stands have been packed. I noticed it at the Allen gym, at Northampton, Freedom, Martz Hall (the best place to play basketball in the world) and Pleasant Valley  The basketball teams this year are so good that you just don't know what is going to happen.

Allen lost out to Parkland last night and Emmaus fell to Pocono Mountain West. Parkland will face Pocono Mountain West for the 6A title on Saturday at a location to be determined today. All four teams will compete in the state tournament. .

East Stroudsburg North will face Pottsville tonight for 5A bragging rights at Blue Mountain.

On Friday, Becahi will face Jim Thorpe at Easton Middle School to decide the 4A championship.

I will be in the stands on Friday and Saturday, cheering for Becahi and Parkland.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sold a lot of tickets and hotdogs, be interesting to know how much and where it all went.

Popularity can sure help pay the rent, all you need is some fake news to gin some up and find a way to capitalize on it.

Glad the kids had fun...they picked up the bill.

Anonymous said...

12:30 AM: What is your problem?

What an awesome event in a terrific arena. Both games were really good and it was great to see all the student sections cheering. Parkland and their star Sam Iorio stole the show with some tough, smart, gutsy play. The first score by Williams was purely incredible. Not sure about the overall William Allen strategy. I thought they had better players all around, just didn't execute well. I think a more aggressive full court press from the start was in order and it seemed the Canaries were content to try and trade 3 pointers with Parkland instead of forcing the ball to the basket. All in all the double header was a huge success. Even the undercard PM West and Emmaus was exciting, lots of good players on those teams.

Anonymous said...

Sam Iorio was the most polished player on the floor last night. Also, I regret to admit, he should be the league MVP. He controlled that game. Everything went through him. If Parkland doesn't have Iorio, I believe Allen would have spanked them (as I said earlier, stupid me).

I must admit, I was also curious as to where ticket and vendor money was going. I surmised JB was getting something. Yet, alas, wrong again!

Well, now the #1 ranked team in 6A lost, and the #2 ranked team in 6A also lost. Interesting....should make for great post season. Go Allen!

Anonymous said...

@12:36
Actually the money goes to District 11 as this is still just a district and not a state game. The PIAA might get something but after all the bills are paid the majority of profits go to the district and not the state.

Anonymous said...

Was booze being sold?

Anonymous said...

No alcohol.

Anonymous said...

Actually, I think it would be good to understand where the money went, since I'd like to see this happen annually at the arena.

I know tickets for these games could be purchased through the schools, so I'm assuming the comment about all the money going to District 11 is correct. However, I wonder if/how much the District had to pay for the arena. Surely it couldn't have been free, nor would it be fair for only the District to reap the benefits of ticket sales from such a large arena compared to what they'd get at a high school gym (where the games would otherwise have been played).

There are certainly costs associated with setting up/breaking down the facility, as well as staffing for the event itself. I'm not sure if it's fair to expect the arena to absorb those costs on its own, and doing so would make it less likely that the arena would hold similar events in the future.

At the same time, I sort of remember the Arena having an agreement with the city to hold a certain number of "free" (or at cost) events at the city's discretion. Maybe this should become one of those.

Not sure who got the money generated from the concessions, but I'm assuming it's the arena. Only a limited number of the general concession stands were open, but it looked like the same people that run those stands at the Phantoms game. Whoever it was probably made a decent amount of money last night, and could have made more with more variety. I'm sure there may have been TV, advertising and sponsorship money available last night (or possibly in the future).

Again, I'd like to understand where the money came from and who it went to so we can see something like this again. The best way to have that happen is if everyone can make a little bit from the event, or at least doesn't lose anything.

Morning Call - there's a story here. How did it come together, and will it happen more often in the future?

P.S. - For 9:24 - No booze being sold since it was a youth game.

Anonymous said...

I think the FBI should launch a probe into where the proceeds of the event went. And forget the MC doing an investigative story. This potential scandal is worthy of a team of New York Times reporters. We have to get to the bottom of where the money went!!

Anonymous said...

Doesn't Freedom, Liberty, Parkland, Easton and others, charge for the use of their gyms during playoff's? $1,000.00 per night?

Bernie O'Hare said...

9:43, It was a free event. There is nothing to report. You are being an asshole.

Anonymous said...

@8:08

I have no problem...
...and if this was merely a sports blog I would not bring up tickets sales or news stations that share the same venue.

I applaud the use of our finest facilities for our children's development but seeing what goes on at the colligate level is what sparks my interest in their possible exploitation.

I was not trying to be an asshole. I will admit that when I see something wonderful I focus on the dark side to better understand which of the Angels I have to thank.

The New York times comment is foolish and clearly disingenuous.