USA Basketball will relocate its headquarters from Colorado Springs to Tempe as part of a $350 million development project on ASU property, the governing body announced Tuesday.
The Arizona Republic first reported of USA Basketball's plans to move in June. USA Basketball officials declined to comment about relocation until its announcement. USA Basketball intends to move to ASU's 10.5 acre lot on University Drive and Mill Avenue in 2015.
USA Basketball's chairman is Jerry Colangelo, who brought the Phoenix Suns, Arizona Diamondbacks and the Phoenix Coyotes to the Valley. Colangelo tried to move the organization in 2008 in Glendale but the plans were unsuccessful.
Once again, the Phoenix sports pioneer has delivered another major sports organization to Arizona.
“This is an exciting and an incredible opportunity that offers nothing but positives for USA Basketball,” Colangelo said in a press release. “USA Place will offer USA Basketball an excellent site for the development of its office headquarters, a training center and event center that will provide the organization with a first-class site for hosting junior level events and will allow USA Basketball to continue to evolve.
“The new USA Basketball headquarters and training center will be first-class, state of art facilities, something I know we will be very proud of.”
According to the release, USA Basketball will develop its national headquarters and a training facility on the Mill Avenue and University Drive intersection. Also included in the USA Place, LLC project are a 4,500-seat events center, an Omni Hotel, a conference center, retail and office space, a parking garage and the new headquarters of the Arizona Interscholastic Association.
The Chili's restaurant currently standing on the southeast corner of Mill Avenue and University Drive is assumed to be closed under the development project.
The relocation plan is pending final approval from the Tempe City Council and Arizona Board of Regents.
USA Basketball is in charge of fielding the U.S. basketball teams for international competition, most notably the Olympics and FIBA Basketball World Cup. It manages the men and women's national teams as well as youth squads in the under-19, 18 17, 16 age divisions and 3x3 teams.
ASU men's basketball coach Herb Sendek declined to comment on recruiting or other basketball-related aspects of the move because of possible compliance violations.
Sendek however added he is excited about USA Basketball's potential impact on Tempe's economy and the University.
"From what I understand, (USA Basketball) is going to do a first-class facility," Sendek said. "It's going to be spectacular and the other positive byproduct of this is what a great economic boost to our community, the possibility of jobs. When you have those kinds of things entering our sphere, only good can come out of it."
Sendek credited the agreement to Colangelo, ASU President Michael Crow and Athletic Director Steve Patterson and praised each executive for their individual work.
"When you put all three of those men together in their respective areas, it seems like a very natural end that this beautiful facility is going to be right here on Mill Avenue," he said.
Despite being the nearest college basketball coach to the headquarters, Sendek added he has not been contacted about possible opportunities with USA Basketball and doesn't expects to be.
It's unclear how many exhibition events USA Basketball will host in Tempe. While being headquartered in Colorado Springs, USA Basketball often held its men's national team's training camp and exhibition games in Las Vegas, most recently its minicamp for the NBA's rising stars last week.
Reach the reporter at jnacion@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @Josh_Nacion
