Some 7,000 People Expected In Cookeville For TSSAA Basketball Championships

Sixteen high school basketball teams arrive in Cookeville Wednesday as Tennessee Tech hosts the TSSAA BlueCross Division II State Championships.

Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Amy New said they expect up to 7,000 people to come through the city.

“We love for them to be exposed to Tennessee Tech and its campus, especially with all the new improvements we have going on, and we love welcoming people to Cookeville so they can spend some money, go visit our retail establishments and restaurants and get to know the area,” New said.

New said while attendance may not equal to the TSSAA BlueCross Bowl, she still anticipates a high impact for retail and restaurants. New said her team has touched base with local business owners, and they are prepared for the influx.

“There are many especially in the downtown area, those on Interstate Drive who are looking forward to that,” New said. “We’ve already touched base, because some of these teams will be eating at those restaurants and just giving them a heads up that this is coming, and we hope that we definitely show the hospitality Putnam County offers.”

The chamber and visitor’s bureau teams have also been hard at work. New said leading up to the event, her team has been working on promotions to let visitors know what Cookeville has to offer.

“We’re doing a lot of design and marketing and making sure as soon as those people come into the door that they know when they leave there that we hope they will visit X,Y and Z restaurants and retail establishments so that they do spend money so we can obviously generate more tax dollars,” New said.

New said the Tennessee Tech Athletics team also doing a lot of work organizing the four-day tournament. New said volunteers are still needed for the event, so those interested can check out time slots through the Visitor’s Bureau Facebook page.