Downtown hoopla: Saskatoon intersection turns mobile basketball arena for weekend tourney

Peoplein downtown Saskatoon began noticing the giant bleachers parked in the middle of the street, at the corner of 4th Avenue and 21st Street, earlier this week.

And when they were beinghauled from SaskTel Centre, at a speed of 15 kilometres an hour.

"The people stopped their cars and gawked immediately at this bleacher coming down 51st Street anddown WarmanRoad," said Kent Hartshorn.

The temporarily-relocated seats are part of an elaborate pop-up basketball court a first for the city that will serve as the home of the 2017FIBA3X3 World Tour Masters event (another first for Saskatoon).

The three-on-three competition will see 12 teams from across the globe, including a four-man team fromSaskatoon, compete for $20,000 and the chance to qualify for this October'sFIBA finals in Beijing, China.

But setting up the courtcomplete with a set of four bleachers capable of seating 1,000 peopleultimately proved to be aslam-dunk, said Hartshorn, the co-chair of the event's 15-person organizing committee.

"We hada towing company with a crew of 10 start atSaskTel Centre, bringa bleacher down with police escort, store it on 21st Street, change the tires, go back to SaskTel Centre and put new tires on and get the next set ofbleachers down," said Hartshorn.

"It took aboutsix-and-a-half hours."

The end result?

"We've transformed this intersection into a basketball court," said Hartshorn.

The Masters event starts at 11 a.m. CST Saturday with events for children. the competition's opening ceremonies follow at 3 p.m.

Tickets for the games, which continue on Sunday, are free.