On Thursday, event officials announced the cancelation of the annual 2020 Hoop City Classic high school basketball event.
Originally, the Sanford Pentagon, Yankton high school, and Mitchell Corn Palace were all slated to host games for the event, which was scheduled to take place December 28-30.
On Wednesday, it was announced that the Sanford Pentagon would no longer be in the rotation for the event – mostly because of the venue’s possibility of putting stronger restrictions on fan attendance.
Entering Thursday morning, the Mitchell Corn Palace was scheduled to hold most of the Hoop City Classic contests with Yankton scheduled to host two games, but by Thursday afternoon that too had changed.
Breaking news! Hoop City basketball classic in Mitchell has been CANCELLED!
— Tim Smith (@timsmithkmit) December 10, 2020
A formal email was sent to participating schools from the Hoop City Classic Basketball Club.
“Our number one priority is to keep the community and players safe. This decision was not made lightly, and we hope you understand the difficult situation,” explained Ernie Kuyper, president of the Hoop City Basketball Club. “We will continue our tradition next year and we hope you all consider participating in the 2021 Hoop City Classic.”
Cancelations at the high school level aren’t exactly a new thing when it comes to the 2020-21 school year, but it’s not as common to see it happen weeks ahead of a scheduled event.
Fourteen South Dakota schools were scheduled to compete during the 2020 Hoop City Classic, along with a few out-of-state programs also slated to appear.
