City of Palms Classic moves to FSW in 2016

FORT MYERS, Fla.- The City of Palms Classic is changing venues.

Tournament directors announced Thursday the nationally-ranked high school basketball tournament has outgrown the facility at Bishop Verot High School and will move to Florida SouthWestern State College in December 2016.

For over 20 years, the City of Palms basketball tournament called Bishop Verot its home, but the tournament that started out as a News-Press holiday event between local teams has grown tremendously in its 43 years of existence.

“I think when you go from a local tournament to the rated number one high school basketball tournament in the country, that says something,” said John Naylor, executive director of Classic Basketball Inc.

Naylor says the competition draws between 12,000-13,000 fans a year, including some people who get turned away from the high school gym when there’s no longer room.

FSW’s arena is currently under construction and will open in October 2016. The basketball tournament will be the first community event to take place in the arena.

“Actually, during the process of design and envisioning this whole thing, it was in our window. We were looking at that same, the City of Palms state tournaments, both high school and collegiate. We think we would be the perfect venue for that,” said FSW President Jeff Albritten.

The FSW arena can host 1,000 more fans per day, which could bump up the City of Palms attendance by 6,000 annually. Organizers of the event say a change is venues does not mean more teams will be invited to the tournament, the same number of teams will continue competing.