250 Teams, And Their Families, In St. Cloud For Youth Basketball Tournament

ST. CLOUD - Thousands of youth basketball players, and their families, will be in town this weekend. The St. Cloud Area Youth Basketball Association is hosting their annual "Quarry Classic".

Tournament Director Jake Welch says says every hotel room in the metro area is sold out.

It's impossible to get a hotel room this weekend. I have a good friend coming up from St. Paul, their softball team is playing in town  and they can't find anything this weekend.

Welch says its estimated that the tournament generates between $2 million and $3 million annual for the local economy.

It brings a lot of people into the St. Cloud area. It's our main fundraiser for St. Cloud area Youth Basketball. It allows us to rent gym space for practices, be able to send teams to different areas, buy uniforms, do those sorts of things.

Welch says there are 250 teams from all over Minnesota, as well as North Dakota and Wisconsin. They are boys and girls teams from the fourth through the eighth grade. They'll be using 26 gyms throughout the St. Cloud metro area.