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Hoopfest Decides To Look Ahead To 2021; To Skip 2020 Event

Jeremy Burnham

There will be no Hoopfest in downtown Spokane this year.

The huge three-on-three basketball tournament had already been postponed once. And now Hoopfest officials say it’s time to concede that it won’t be safe even later in the fall.

Hoopfest normally occupies most of downtown Spokane during the last weekend in June.

The coronavirus forced a postponement of that date back into the fall. But now, executive director Matt Santangelo concedes, even that isn’t going to work, given the increase in cases in Spokane County and throughout the country.

In a statement posted on the Hoopfest website, Santangelo talked about the importance of momentum in a basketball game. He said the Hoopfest team tried to read and anticipate the momentum. It developed a variety of scenarios, but, he writes, “2020’s momentum has shifted against a traditional Hoopfest.”

The organization that runs the tournament is offering a virtual alternative that it calls Hoopfest Homecourt. Players can form teams as they would for the tournament and register to play a variety of drills and challenges, via artificial intelligence. Teams that complete the challenges will win Hoopfest Champion t-shirts. You can register at the Hoopfest website.