PEORIA, Ill. – The Peoria Civic Center will play regional host to a 64-team televised ESPN basketball tournament worth $1 million.
“The Basketball Tournament” is scheduled for Jul. 24-28 in Peoria, and will feature 16 regional teams, featuring alumni from their respective colleges.
Peoria Civic Center General Manager Rik Edgar told WMBD’s “The Greg and Dan Show” the venue will host one of four regional brackets Jul. 24-28.
“16 teams are going to be in Peoria for multiple days, and we have gotten approved by the health department. We’ve also put our application in that we would be able to host that event at 25%,” Edgar said.
If Region 2 reaches the bridge of Phase 4 of Restore Illinois before the event at the end of July, Edgar said they would be able to increase capacity to 60%.
“Even 25% is a financially viable event for us,” Edgar said.
The Bradley University team, Always A Brave, will be one of the teams, and on the roster will be two players from the 2019 and 2020 Missouri Valley Conference championship teams, Darrell Brown, Jr. and Nate Kennell.
Joining Always A Brave as a host team will be House of ‘Paign, the University of Illinois’s alumni squad.
Wichita, KS, Charleston, WV, and Columbus, OH join Peoria as the other regional round host cities.
Championship weekend takes place in Dayton, OH from Jul. 31-Aug. 3. The winning team collects $1 million.
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