Hooplandia’s 3-on-3 basketball tourney set to double in size this week

WEST SPRINGFIELD – The Big E expects this year’s Hooplandia — a 3-on-3 basketball tournament — to draw 300 teams to courts on its grounds and at the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame this weekend.

That’ll make this year’s event about twice the size of 2023′s inaugural tournament, a debut delayed two years by COVID restrictions.

“I’m very happy with how things are going,” Eugene J. Cassidy, president and CEO of the Eastern States Exposition, told The Republican. “We are drawing attention to the city of Springfield, for sure, (and) the Basketball Hall of Fame. It’ll catch on, and when it does, the economy of the region will get a nice boost.”

The tournament will take place Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Big E in West Springfield, with select youth championship games held at the Hall of Fame in Springfield.

Springfield is the birthplace of basketball.

Each team in the 3-on-3 tournament has four players – one substitution. With spectators, Cassidy estimates crowds of 3,000 to 4,000 people.

The tournament is marketed to youths all the way up to former college players looking to stay competitive.

There are games for players starting at age 6 running up to players over age 51. Registration is free for anyone under age 8. There are various charges for the other age groups, with a special category for veterans and first responders.

Attendance for spectators is free. But there is a cash only $10-a-car parking fee.

Cassidy said teams representing Springfield and West Springfield will once again face off in a mayors’ challenge.

The Hall of Fame was bought in to help market the event, said John L. Doleva, president and CEO of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

“I think we are seeing some of the results that we brought to it — and some of the assets we brought to the marketing side,” Doleva said.

The Big E, where portable hoops have been assembled, is the perfect indoor and outdoor venue, Doleva said.

The 3-on-3 format, long a staple of playgrounds and driveways, is having a moment in the sun. Basketball teams normally have five players. The Paris Olympics this summer will have men’s and women’s 3-on-3 basketball as medal events for the first time.

The hall has a relationship with actor/rapper Ice Cube, a co-founder of the Big3, a 12-team, 3-on-3 basketball league featuring former NBA and international players.

Ice Cube, whose birth name is O’Shea Jackson, was in Springfield earlier this year for the start of the Ice Cube Impact Award.

“I think you’ll see this game grow,” Doleva said.

Cassidy said he’s discussed Hooplandia with former Gov. Charlie Baker, now president of the NCAA, and said Baker is supportive.

It cost the Big E $750,000 to create Hooplandia, Cassidy said. It is modeled on Hoopfest in Spokane, Washington, the largest such tournament in the county, which regularly draws 1,700 teams.