The two Big Ten postseason tournaments (WBB March 6-10, MBB March 13-17) kick off five major sporting events scheduled for the Twin Cities in a six-week span this year.
It is more than basketball for a couple of weeks in March. It is more than an experience not only for visiting fans, players, and media, but also for those who live here all the time.
Officials told the MSR at last week’s Big Ten Tip-off event in downtown Minneapolis that community involvement and engagement is a high priority for both the conference and Minnesota Sports & Events (MSE), the local organization in charge of running the women’s and men’s postseason tournaments. It is the first time both are staged at the same locale.
MSE Corporate Partners and Engagement Manager Gabrielle Grier excitedly told the gathering, “We are committed to community, and we are ensuring that when we say we show up for our sporting events, we do it in impactful and meaningful ways.”
Among several community initiatives are improvements to two local rec centers: Farview in North Minneapolis and MLK in St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood.
Grier told the MSR, “I think what’s really important is that we are highlighting the Black communities.”
Farview will get a new state-of-the-art scoreboard donated by the Big Ten, a Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board official said last week. “This exciting contribution will undoubtedly enhance the overall experience for our local athletes and spectators alike,” stated North Service Area Manager Newmann Thomas.
Former Minneapolis City Conference and Big Ten athlete PJ Hill reaffirmed that the Big Ten events in and around downtown Minneapolis are “bigger than basketball. It gives us an opportunity to use basketball as that vehicle to teach a lot of life lessons and give a lot of hope to young kids in the community.”
Hill, a local financial planner, added that the events will help put a positive light on Minneapolis, which since 2020 has had its share of negative attention.
“I want to be able to showcase to our community that, though we have been through some hard times, we came out on the other side better, stronger, more positive and ready to really radiate what North and South Minneapolis really can be,” Hill said.
Hill and Grier are among several Blacks who will be involved in hosting the two Big 10 tournaments in Minneapolis.
“When you look at this room and you see all the people of color that are in here right now, that tells you everything you need to know about the Big 10 Men’s and Women’s tournaments,” observed WCCO Radio’s Henry Lake, who emceed last Tuesday’s Big 10 Tip-off party.
But overall, basketball will be the main showcase events because both Big 10 WBB and MBB tournament winners are automatic NCAA qualifiers later in March. Said Big 10 Men’s Basketball V-P Brad Taylor, “This is a great sports town. We just hope we put on a good show.”
“We’re 50 days out from tipping off,” added Megan Kahn, the conference’s women’s basketball vice president. “I think it’s realistic we could see a sellout which would be absolutely unprecedented in the Target Center and for a conference tournament.”
Taylor, who is Black, also is proud of the Big Ten community outreach efforts.
“When I was at the NCAA,” he recalled, “we always tried to leave some kind of footprint or our mark on the community.”
“I’m excited for both tournaments to be in Minneapolis,” concluded Lake. “The community’s gonna benefit from all of this.”