The 28th annual Les Schwab Invitational is moving further east: Prime Time Sports has announced that the basketball tournament will be moving to Portland State University this year.
The Les Schwab Invitational is one of the country’s most popular high school basketball tournaments during the holiday season, attracting some of the country’s top recruits and teams each year.
This year the tournament will take place from December 26th to 30th.
One of the biggest changes – with the move from Hillsboro to downtown Portland – will be a complete change in the parking situation.
Portland State University President Ann Cudd said the school is working on implementing a special rate for on-campus parking for visitors. Prime Time Sports President John McCallum said the parking rate could be reduced to half the usual price during the tournament.
When the event took place at Liberty High School, parking was only available in the school parking lot and was free.
This year, Cudd and McCallum agreed that there would be ample parking at the venue, but there will still be a charge for parking.
McCallum added that the tournament takes place at a time of year when there are almost no students on campus, so tournament participants do not have to fight with other students for parking.
Portland State University is also accessible via Portland public transportation and there are several off-campus parking lots in the area. But again, these are not free.
In terms of size, McCallum said the Viking Pavilion (which has a capacity of 2,900 spectators for basketball games) is very similar to Liberty High School’s gymnasium. He added that much of the seating at Liberty is traditional bleachers, while the seating at Viking Pavilion is padded chairs.
“I think they will be very happy when they see that they will be sitting in a real chair,” McCallum said.
Another new feature at the Viking Pavilion is the large video screens at both ends of the field. McCallum said they can use these to show live highlights during games.
“We have so many big highlights that span the five days of the tournament and everyone waits to see them again on social media,” McCallum said. “Now there are big screens that everyone can look up to and see the game immediately.”
McCallum said moving the tournament to downtown Portland would also give participating teams from out of state more opportunities to see the city. He added that in the past, some players would look for the Moda Center or the White Stag sign, but it was difficult to get to those locations from Hillsboro.
Jim Etzel, president of Sport Oregon, added that the move to Portland State is a huge achievement for the Les Schwab Invitational.
“This location speaks for itself,” Etzel said. “This has been a great place for Vikings athletics and it will be a great new home for the Les Schwab Invitational to bring that event to downtown Portland. It continues the comeback story for downtown Portland.”
The tournament has been held at Liberty High School in Hillsboro since 2005. Previously, the tournament was also held at the University of Portland, Lewis & Clark College and the Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
McCallum said the current agreement between Prime Time Sports and Portland State University calls for the Les Schwab Invitational to be held there for at least three years, but they are interested in a long-term partnership.
– Nik Streng, [email protected], @NikStreng
