Sweet 16 to bring in $250k to economy

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - This weekend the lady Boilermaker volleyball team  will play in front of their home crowd as they host the NCAA Sweet 16 volleyball tournament.

"It's great to host any NCAA tournament event whatever sport it is," Purdue University's associate athletic director Tom Schott said. "It's great to bring schools to Purdue and to the Greater Lafayette community. It's even better when our own team is in it and certainly the teams had a great year."

Purdue University's Associate Athletic Director Tom Schott said Purdue hosted Penn State last month and about 5,500 fans attended that game in Mackey Arena. Schott said all of the teams in this weekend's tournament typically travel with just as many fans.

"Four teams will be here this weekend," Schott said. "Two of them are other Big 10 teams, Penn State and Minnesota, so they're very familiar with Purdue and the campus and the fourth team is Kentucky who we've played numerous times over the years and obviously a regional school." 

With nearly 7,000 fans expected to make their way to the Greater Lafayette community, restaurants and businesses will see a positive impact.

"It's a two day event," Schott said. "Obviously we'll have a lot of fans who come in who need to take advantage of the restaurants and hotels and other opportunities in the Greater Lafayette area."

"It adds up not only in dollars," President of CVB Jo Wade said. "You know anytime there's a sporting event and you're playing a visiting team that has to spend the night, the team alone beyond the fans brings dollars to our community."

Wade said they expect several hundred thousand dollars in revenue from this weekend's tournament.

"Plugging in all the numbers we think it's probably at least a quarter of a million dollars in benefits to the Lafayette and West Lafayette area," Wade said.

The lady Boilermakers take on Minnesota Friday at Mackey Arena.