LAHAINA, Hawaii — Maui Mayor Richard Bissen strode to middle court docket on the Lahaina Civic Center, handed off the sport ball to official Chris Pacsi and flashed a shaka.
Bissen has made it a degree to seem at his county’s most iconic sporting occasion, the Southwest Maui Invitational, because it returned to the Valley Isle in 2024.
“There’s just so much benefit to the community,” the previous choose informed Spectrum News in a nook of the county-run health club as USC and Arizona State ready to tip off.
State and Maui officers have stated previous Maui Invitationals have introduced in an upward of $20 million in annual financial impression. The PGA Tour’s season-opening occasion held a number of miles up the street, The Sentry, is alleged to be chargeable for one other $50 million for Maui. But the January 2026 version of that occasion was first moved off its longtime web site, the Kapalua Plantation Course, then outright canceled amid a water rights dispute in West Maui.
The Plantation Course, which had been closed for 2 months as water use was curtailed, reopened to golfers in early November. Kapalua General Manager Alex Nakajima told Forbes that it has recovered effectively.
The Maui Invitational has additionally navigated fraught occasions in the previous few years — the COVID-19 pandemic and the Lahaina wildfires. Event operator KemperSports was pressured to maneuver the event off island 3 times in 4 years due to them.
This yr marked the primary time since 2018 and 2019 that the event was held on the similar location in consecutive years.
“It’s the 42nd annual. This has become a piece of Maui and Lahaina’s annual events,” Bissen stated. “Now when the fires happened (in August 2023), this event moved to Honolulu and The Sentry continued to come. This year it’s the other way around; The Sentry’s not able to be played this year. They’ll be back next year. This tournament being here helps fill that space, for sure.”
There is a new threat in the form of a rival tournament, the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas — additionally throughout Thanksgiving week — that may supply hundreds of thousands of {dollars} to draw elite faculty basketball packages that Maui was accustomed to getting with out massive payouts due to its setting and elite custom.
Bissen was requested if he’s involved concerning the Maui Invitational’s sustainability, provided that change.
“KemperSports does a great job lining up the teams. You can see next year’s teams already up there,” Bissen replied, gesturing at a banner for the eight groups introduced for the 2026 field. “We’ve got great teams coming, Clemson, Colorado (State), Arizona. No, we know there are going to continue to be great teams that come every year. A lot of benefits to this tournament.”
Bissen, who managed Maui’s response to the August 2023 wildfires that killed 102 folks and destroyed hundreds of buildings in Lahaina, introduced a re-election marketing campaign on Nov. 7.
It was not possible to note this week that, in contrast to almost each previous version of the nationally televised event on the 2,400-seat LCC, the crowds weren’t packed to the brim — even at Wednesday’s 9:30 a.m. championship. Open seats in the stands have been straightforward to identify in the higher rows for each groups’ fan bases in addition to in the impartial seating throughout the court docket that normally goes to Maui residents.
Entering the event, the eight-team subject was thought-about a minimize or two beneath Maui’s regular normal. The lone ranked workforce in the sector, No. 23 North Carolina State, went 1-2. But the winners bracket grew to become an impromptu Pac-12 reunion and the championship, won by USC, featured some spectacular performances.
The coaches of the 2 groups in the championship sport, USC’s Eric Musselman and Arizona State’s Bobby Hurley, hailed the event’s custom and the expertise that they had this week, and stated the sport environments met their expectations.
“It’s been special both as a player and coach to be here and feel the energy in the building,” stated Hurley, who was the 1992 Maui co-Most Valuable Player for Duke. “It’s just different, and it’s unique. Our fan base, I can’t thank them enough. That was maybe as loud a couple of days of cheering that I’ve ever had at Arizona State just in terms of our fan base just being locked into these games and really supporting our team.”
Musselman was requested in the post-game about the potential of bringing his workforce again sooner, provided that the NCAA’s outdated four-year rule for multi-team occasions is being phased out subsequent season.
“I mean, I’d like to come back next year, but I know there’s probably a field already,” Musselman stated. “Then it is as much as admin, too. The panorama is altering. But I do know myself and our gamers and all of our households — that is the second time I’ve accomplished it (2022 with Arkansas), and each experiences have been unimaginable. I used it in the recruiting for this yr’s workforce. I informed the fellows now we have an opportunity to go to Maui and the way nice it’s and the way cool it’s in your households to return, and with the Name, Image, and Likeness now, we had virtually each household — every participant was represented by a member of the family, which possibly 4 or 5 years in the past, that did not occur. But now with (NIL), that is one of many large advantages is simply to stroll to the pool and simply see everyone’s household on the market. And the climate has been excellent.
“For us, for USC, it was a perfect trip. I can tell you that.”
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports activities scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He may be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.