Highlights of 2022 in Raleigh sports.

What do Phil Ford, Devin Booker, Penny Hardaway, Rodney Monroe, Jason Kidd, Brandon Ingram, John Wall, Kobe White, Cade Cunningham, Jerry Stackhouse, Rodney Rogers, Sean Bradley, Bam Adebayo, Paolo Bancaro, Reggie Bullock, David West, all have in common, and a lot more people, they all played in a high school basketball tournament here in Raleigh, North Carolina. I remember growing up seeing Sean Bradley reach up and grab the rim while standing on his feet at Broaden High School. I remember Rodney Rogers looking like he was 25 when he was 18 and he could 360 dunk.

He looked like Zion Williamson, that's the last person I remember looking that big. It is the John Wall Invitational that's going on this week. One of the people who helps make that possible and a lot of other sports that we get to watch live in this area is a good friend of the program, a good friend of mine. He is the Executive Director of the Greater Raleigh Sports Alliance.

He has got to preach. Scott, how are you doing, sir? I'm doing great, Hayes, and it's an honor for me to be on during Hayes Promo. Apart from me and I'm very, very flattered.

It sounds like it would be, it's actually not. It means that everyone else is working, that no one else answered my calls, and then I fell all the way down to, no, no, no, I'm kidding. Yes, you scraped the bottom of the barrel and here I am. Just like they did to get a host, I do the same to the guest. Whoever answers gets invited.

No, no, no. I actually, I thought of you for what's going to be my next question about bowl games, but I do want to start with the John Wall Invitational celebrating its 50 years. Tell us in terms of impact to the community, how many folks will come see that tournament?

Do you have numbers for the 50 years of like how many people have seen basketball or any chance, any numbers on like players that have gone to the NBA or anything? On this event, I will say just as a general statement, we're not quite as sophisticated in terms of the numbers and the economic impact. I think more importantly than that, of course, this is the oldest annual sporting event in Raleigh, as you said, 50 years.

And this is the only one that's been going on annually to my knowledge and pretty much anyone's knowledge for 50 consecutive years, of course, minus COVID. But what this tournament means more to, in my opinion, more than economic impact is just the prestige and the branding and the exposure and the visibility it brings to high school basketball and to this market and to the, to Raleigh and the Triangle. I mean, this event is an absolute, you know, a foundational event in our community. And the gym is packed every night. I remember when John Wall himself played here and Hayes, honestly, not only could you not get in, the line was from like Broughton High School, halfway back to the state Capitol. I mean, it's just, it's a crazy environment here at Broughton and it's probably a little too small, but it makes it, it makes up for it in the history and the vibe and the electricity in the building. And it's just really unlike any other sporting event that we host here.

And it has so much tradition. The names are just endless. I mean, I was looking through the program yesterday with my son and he showed me the list of NBA alumni that had played in the holiday. And he was like, this entire page, he said, and this is just current NBA players. This doesn't even count the historical NBA players.

I mean, it is a long, impressive list. Now, and like you said, it's one of those things. I mean, you can go ask NC State basketball fans, what moving to a bigger arena does as far as losing the feel and the vibe of the closeness. I've seen the holiday tournament. I've seen it actually played in the rally civic center at one point. I've seen it at Reynolds obviously. And then I've seen it at Broughton. I'm trying to think if I've seen it anywhere else. It was at Wake and last year it went to Wake Tech for a year.

Okay. Up in, which was a nice new gym, but again, and it was very nice, but this is not, there's really no other venue like Broughton. When you just think back to the history here and pistol Pete and just so many things that have happened in this gym. And it's just, it's just a lot of history here and it's really unmatched in terms of events in this area.

It is. And it's a unique crowd. It's one of those where, you know, obviously you can't, you know, you can create first round matchups and there are teams that you expect to possibly advance if there aren't upsets, but you can't like dictate who's going to be in a semifinal or final. But when you get that magic, you know, they, they bring not only some of the best teams, but obviously some of the best players, you know, those guys are ranked in recruits from the time they're like 13 years old. So we know who the best guys are.

Go ahead. I really, I really think here that like you're saying this event is more about, I mean, of course people want to see the teams and see great game, but this event is more about seeing the stars, you know, the individual stars and the stars. And I think that's what people want to see is the number three player in the junior class facing off against the number one ranked player in America in the sophomore class. And that kind of thing is sort of why I think drives the attendance.

I 100% agree. I was going to say when, when you get that magical matchup of, Oh, this is a recruit that's going to UNC and the other team is a recruit that's going to Duke or State. Sometimes it's almost like those summer league games back in the day where that's where the crowd is really working. Cause they, the players figure out, you know, this is, this is a show that these, the State fans are probably cheering more for that player and the UNC fans are here for this.

And you might have both of their coaches sitting court side while it goes down. It is a magical crowd, like nothing else. So check it out. Year 50.

The, the staff down there always does a great job. And obviously with the help of the greater Raleigh sports Alliance. All right. Let's talk stadium series. Actually we'll go, we'll finish with the bowl game. The stadium series game is about a month and a half away, I guess.

Yeah. February 18. And the big question I have for you is, do you have my tickets, Scott? Did you not get them? Cause I sent them to you a couple of weeks ago. Maybe my dog ate them.

My dog literally eats a lot of things that they could have done that. Well, obviously people know there's going to be a hockey game and they know it's going to be and Carter Finley and that is going to be a unique experience. What else is going to be surrounding that experience and just give us a little peek of what it takes to pull something like that off.

Sure. Well, first of all, it takes a whole lot of folks to pull this off. And just in a real brief summary, the NHL, you know, owns the event is producing the event on that Saturday and it's their event. The canes are the host, obviously the host franchise. NC state is the host venue and Paul so playing a critical role.

And in my, my office is playing an important role as well. So there's a lot of partners involved, but what, what for the fans, what we're really looking for, looking for on that Saturday, February 18th, eight o'clock at night, ABC, it's going to be the first outdoor hockey game. Well, actually only the second one ever anywhere in the South. It'll be the sixth one in a college football stadium.

The second one in the South, the first one around here. And of course the coolest part is for most people there, Hayes, it's going to be, you know, you hate to use a cliche, a once in a lifetime experience, but for most people there, it's going to be the first time they've ever seen an outdoor hockey game and it may well be the last. So it's going to be a really unique experience.

The game is already essentially sold out at 55,000. There may be some more tickets released later, but the tickets have gone like wildfire, like we all thought it would. And it's just going to be a really cool, really unique event in our market. And the one thing I think about the most when I think about this event right now, people have been talking about it nonstop since last summer. And I can't remember an event here in the triangle, a scheduled event that had this much anticipation and excitement six, eight, nine months out.

And you know, now, like you said, we're a month and a half away. There's a lot of folks working on it, you know, basically around the clock and it's going to be a big one. Yep, Scott Dupree for the Greater Raleigh Sports Alliance. They're one of those partners putting on that stadium series game.

It's going to be awesome and there'll be all kinds of things going on around it. All right, to my hypothetical question that you might be able to apply some real world experience in, you know, obviously the bowl game goes down in Charlotte. That's been there for years.

And so you kind of think of that as a thing that's always going to happen moving forward. But then I see places like Birmingham have a bowl. They've had a bowl for a couple of years, but it's not like the longest standing tradition. It's not like they've been having a bowl there since the 40s. And so I look around, you know, we've got six, I think, FBS teams. We sent five teams to bowl games this year or six, if you, yeah, six NC Central plays on a different level, but the celebration bowl is still on there too. So we're not thought of as Texas or Florida in terms of college football, but we obviously fill Carter family six, seven times a year, Dowdy Ficklin six, seven times a year. The Keenan stadium, like we've got a lot of college football fans. What would it take to play a college football game somewhere other than Charlotte? I know you deal specifically in Raleigh. We were throwing out could Wilmington or Winston or someone put it on. So I just wanted to tap into your knowledge. First of all, do you know of anyone that's ever tried to put on a bowl game in Raleigh or the Triangle area or anywhere else in North Carolina?

Yes. I mean, it goes back a couple of years, but there was a two year window. I think, I think, hey, that was like 2011 to 2013, where we worked with some sports marketers who had started other bowl games. And I believe these were the gentlemen who created the, you may remember something called the Texas Bowl that was in Houston. And they also created the Motor City Bowl in Detroit. And it was that same group. And we spent really all, basically two years working with them on the concept and the plans for a bowl in Raleigh.

I don't know that that was ever really reported. I'm not, I can't really remember that, but I was involved with it. And we, we had a lot of meetings over a couple of years with these guys, with, um, in NC state Carter family with the ACC. And, um, the best I can remember at Hayes is after a couple of years when it reached the ACC level and meetings there. And then it's at that moment in time, the NCAA had a bowl moratorium that we were waiting to be listed. And there was also, of course, it wasn't going to happen without ESPN being on board. And it's somewhere after a couple of years, it seemed to lose steam and then, and it never happened, but I felt like we were making progress to getting close to that happening.

And then it just sort of died out, but it wasn't for lack of effort. The challenge with bowl games is, um, start a journey, not a fad kick off your fitness journey with up to $500 off Peloton bike, bike plus or tread packages, choose the package that will take your training to the next level with accessories like our cycling shoes, heart rate band, non-slip grip, dumbbells, and more join now. And you'll see why 92% of households that start the year with Peloton are still active a year later, all access membership separate offer in January 8th, 2023 excludes bike, bike plus, and shred basics.

See additional terms at one Peloton.com. Not only do you have to have a conference affiliation and a TV plan, but you also have to have a major title sponsor or there's not going to be a bowl game. And so there's just a lot of moving pieces.

So an answer to your question, we have had that one little window where we were making progress toward a bowl, but it never, never became reality. Were there any names batted around? Like where they were, did you ever get the point where you were suggesting names? Yeah, Hayes Permore week. No, stop, get out, get out of here. And if the bowl game would have been played during Hayes Permore week.

Stop. Well, I mean, this is the week to play bowl games, but then I, then I wouldn't be on here. I wouldn't be on the radio cause I'd be tailgating for that bowl game. But now do you remember if, were there any names?

I'd be so curious. We, we, we know cause cause really a bowl game wasn't going to happen without a title sponsor, which would be the name of the bowl game. Now in the old days, you know, when there was peach bowl and Gator bowl and it was just the name, that was one thing. But now we've moved on to, it's really going to be just a title sponsor. I don't know what I, we never got far enough to give actual thought to what a game in Raleigh may be called.

I'm sure you can think of lots of funny things, jokes and lots of good ideas, but I don't remember getting, I don't remember getting that far. And then if I, you know, let's say I had a couple of million dollars to burn. If I wanted to start the process of, of creating a bowl game, other than coming to you, we're like, how do I even begin that process? I mean, again, I'm talking from the Raleigh perspective, the two things that would have to happen if you wanted to start a bowl game and you said, I've got a $5 million to be a title sponsor. And you called me and told me that my first two calls would be to NC state.

Well, my first three calls all at the same time would be NC state, ACC and ESPN. And that would be the, that would be how to get the ball rolling. Now where it would go from there, I don't know, but that's how we would get the ball rolling. Well, I know people at all those places and I know you, so all we got, all we need now is the $5 million and we've got ourselves a bowl game Scott. That's the one missing ingredient on your plan, the $5 million. Yeah, yeah.

We can find that. I appreciate the time, especially I know you're taking time away from vacation and I know that you probably don't take much vacation because there's always the next sporting event, whether you're planning for stadium series, putting on championships, NCAA championships out there at the soccer park, hosting e-sports events. I think you just brought a disc golf event that's coming in 2024 Scott, it never stops. It's a great sports market for sure. I mean, year round, we feel very blessed here to be doing sports in this market because there's always something happening.

There are always big things happening. Well, we're blessed to have people like you bringing those sports here and making us look good doing it. So thank you. Thank you for the time and enjoy the rest of your holiday vacation. Thanks. Hey, thanks for having me on.