MACON, Ga. — It's game time for Georgia high school basketball players competing in the state tournament, but for David Aiello, holding it at the Macon Coliseum is a big win.
"It's been two years of hard work from our staff and GHSA to make this possible," Aiello said.
Aiello took over management of the Macon Centreplex and made some major changes after the Georgia High School Association moved the state basketball tournament from Athens and Atlanta two years ago.
"New court, new hoops and new lights. This year we got a whole new sound system," Aiello said. "One of the biggest issues we had is that people on the court couldn't hear what the announcer was saying, so we invested about $400,000 to get that upgraded for this."
They also renovated the bathrooms and concession stand and put in new floors.
GHSA Assistant Director Ernie Yarbrough said it's made a huge difference.
"We're real satisfied with what they're doing for us and that was one of the reasons that we brought it back," Yarbrough said.
Valerie Bradley, who works for Visit Macon, says the more people coming into Macon, the better.
"Last year's numbers, there was about 13,000 people that visited during the tournament time," Bradley said.
This year's tournament is two days longer than it was last year, so they're hoping it brings in twice as many people.
"It puts Macon back on the map. I mean people from all corners of the state are coming, they're going out to the restaurants and even some of them are staying in hotels, so it's huge for Macon," Aiello said.
The state tournament starts Wednesday and goes through March 9th. Tickets are $15 a day.