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Basketball fans converge on the Treasure Valley for the girl’s high school state championships at the Idaho Center and many Nampa businesses are reaping the rewards. Dozens of teams and hundreds of parents are here for the games. And when they leave after the three day tournament, they'll have dropped thousands of dollars in Nampa.

The girls’ state championships might not sell out the Idaho Center, but the teams sure are a welcome sight to businesses and city leaders.

“Yeah, it's quite a shot in the arm, when we show up and roll into town it's quite a financial boom for those particular cities,” said John Billetz, Executive Director of the Idaho High School Activities Association.

Teams are in the valley for the three day tournament. Nampa Mayor Tom Dale is a huge basketball fan, and he says this tournament is a big deal.

“The hotels are full and restaurants get extra business. I saw a whole group of girls coming from across the street from Wal-Mart with bags full of stuff,” said Mayor Tom Dale.

“All of those teams aren't just bringing players. There are anywhere between 12-15 players, four coaches three support personnel, administration and in some cases, you have cheerleaders and bands and parents and spectators come in,” said Billetz.

Parents and players make the trip from all over Idaho and they usually fill up all of the Nampa hotels.

“When I first got into this game, there weren’t a lot of hotels that were excited about taking kids. Then, as this economy got a little worse, you'd be amazed at how many call us now and say hey, we'd like to be a host hotel,” said Billetz.

While this tournament is wrapping up - the city already anticipates the next tournament.

“We love the coaches the officials, the girls, and in a couple weeks, we'll have the boys here,” said Mayor Dale.
The tournament continues Saturday; it's only six dollars to watch all of the finals.