SEAN BOSTON
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Hutchinson City Council on Tuesday approved a $20,000 annual contribution to support the NJCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, a nationally recognized tournament held each March at the Hutchinson Sports Arena.
The request was passed 4-1 with Garza, Richardson, Meggers and Fast voting yes, while Goss voted no.
The funding request was presented by Dr. Christopher Parker, president and CEO of the NJCAA, who emphasized the organization's growing financial investment and the tournament’s increasing national profile. Parker first presented the request to City Manager Enrico Villegas last week.
“As we talked last week, the dynamics of the tournament — the ‘Road to Hutch’ — is something we’ve poured into,” Parker said. “I’ve been in this role for eight years now, and we’ve got some great partners in Hutchinson — the city, the American Legion, Visit Hutch — all working to make this event a success.”
The NJCAA has increased its own commitment, investing more than $65,000 annually into branding, hospitality, and media coverage. Streaming the tournament on ESPN+ alone costs about $30,000, Parker said.
“This is the only tournament out of our 57 championships that operates under this model,” Parker said. “We’re simply requesting $20,000 a year to offset the rising costs we've already taken on.”
Assistant Vice President for Marketing and Community Outreach Andrew Givens noted that Parker had met with Villegas ahead of the meeting to discuss the request.
Vice Mayor Scott Meggers asked whether the $20,000 would be subject to the same 80/20 revenue split between the NJCAA and the American Legion that the tournament typically follows.
“Since this is just a request to the city, we would basically put 100% of this money back into the expenses,” Parker said. “It wouldn't be a split, because that split is only for revenues. This would go directly into the budget to support the event here in Hutch.”
The motion to approve the funding was made by Councilman Steve Garza.
“I have no problems,” Garza said. “We put $20,000 in, it goes back into the city. We get it back through taxes, through hotels, so it’s a no-brainer for me.”
Councilman Jon Richardson asked Parker if any of the tournament’s branding efforts promoted Hutchinson specifically.
“Absolutely,” Parker said. “If you walk in, you’ll see the first big sign that says ‘Welcome to Hutch.’ If you saw the game — either live or on ESPN — the first thing you see is drone footage of Hutchinson and the Sports Arena. They talk about Hutchinson. That exposure didn’t exist two years ago.”
“I kind of look at the ask as being almost like additional sponsorship for marketing the city of Hutchinson,” Richardson added. “We’re helping offset some marketing costs for extra exposure.”
While most council members supported the request, Mayor Stacy Goss raised concerns about the lack of hard data regarding the tournament’s economic impact.
“My concern is that we haven’t been presented with the financial or tourism impacts in quite a while,” Goss said. “It’s probably just that we don’t, as a city, have those numbers. I believe the Chamber has them — things like lodging, sales tax, fuel tax.”
Parker acknowledged the absence of a detailed economic impact report.
“There is nothing I can present to you that shows the total income spent at restaurants and hotels,” he said. “My speculation is that, behind the fair, this is probably one of the top economic weeks in the city.”
LeeAnn Cox, vice president of operations and tourism for Visit Hutch, echoed that challenge, citing data-sharing limitations with the American Legion.
“To generate a full economic report, we need a lot of backend financial data, and until recently, the Legion has not been comfortable sharing that,” Cox said. “But we’re working with new leadership and with the NJCAA to put together a report for 2024 and hopefully one for 2025.”
Cox did provide one concrete metric: This year’s tournament generated 1,262 total room nights, with 787 of those in Hutchinson. The rest were in McPherson and Wichita, due to limited local hotel availability.
That could improve next year, she said, pending the reopening of a local hotel, which would add 68 two-bed rooms to the city’s inventory.
Looking ahead, Parker said the NJCAA Board of Regents will meet April 14 to discuss a possible expansion of the tournament from 24 to 32 teams — a move that would add two more days to the event.
“College athletics has changed drastically,” Parker said. “We’ve taken an old model and modernized it. Now we’re on ESPN. This tournament is getting national attention, and we want Hutchinson to remain its home.”