Professional cornhole returns to Erie this weekend. What to know if you want to go
Professional cornhole returns to Erie this weekend, and this year a second venue will be required to hold the American Cornhole League’s Pro Series.
Erie Sports Commission will welcome the 2023 ACL Cornhole Mania event to the Bayfront Convention Center on May 19-21, marking the third time Erie has hosted professional cornhole. This year’s event, however, will be shared with Erie Insurance Arena, a second host venue recently added to accommodate its growth.
The ACL expects between 400 and 500 players across the weekend, portions of which will be broadcasted nationally on ESPN and CBS Sports Network.
“Erie is a town that has always been very receptive to cornhole, one that has always been excited for cornhole to be there, and that’s a big thing for us,” said Trey Rider, ACL’s chief marketing officer. “This year, being in a familiar place was attractive, and throwing in the arena gives us a good look and feel for the broadcast.”
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Erie first hosted an ACL event in June of 2020, welcoming roughly 100 players under limited spectator capacity due to COVID-19 restrictions at the time. It then hosted an ACL Open and Pro Shootout event in 2021, taking a year hiatus only because of scheduling conflicts.
Past ACL events utilized the convention center’s Great Hall for most tournament play and its Grand Ballroom for a featured, televised court. Both of those spaces will be used for general tournament play this year, forcing the featured court to Erie Insurance Arena.
“From a sports commission standpoint, this is pretty much a grand slam for us,” said Mark Jeanneret, ESC’s executive director. “It doesn’t get much better as far as events are concerned.”
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How can one attend?
Action at the convention center will be free of charge, while arena sessions — which will be televised — will be ticketed with a $20 general admission cost. VIP tables, which include eight complimentary drinks, will cost $200 for a group of four.
CBS Sports will record two broadcasts from Erie Insurance Arena, including Friday evening’s team match between the Pennsylvania Ringers and Las Vegas High Rollers at 8 p.m. The Arizona Burn will then play the New England Woodchucks Sunday at 12:30 p.m.
ESPN2 will conduct a live broadcast of Saturday evening’s Battle Finals, featuring singles and doubles play, beginning at 8 p.m. Doors will open two hours before each broadcast and parking will be available in the Erie Insurance Parking Garage for $5.
Convention center action begins with the first bag toss at 8 a.m. Friday, 9 a.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. Sunday. All sessions at the convention center will be streamed on ACL Cornhole TV. A full weekend schedule can be found at bit.ly/aclcornhole.
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What makes this event significant?
Cornhole Mania is the second event in the 2023 ACL Pro Cornhole Series, which will culminate at the 2023 ACL World Championships. Players compete for prize money, national titles and points toward their professional ranking.
The ACL fields a 16-team league whose members complete a regular season schedule while vying for a spot in the American and national conference finals. Its professional division has grown to roughly 250 players, up from 200 when the ACL last visited Erie.
“We’ve kind of needed to re-format and rethink the way we look at tournaments, space and the amount of people we can have compete,” Ryder said. “We do everything we can to accommodate as many people as possible just because, as more people are playing cornhole, we offer more spots for people to become professional players.”
ESC estimates the weekend will generate more than $100,000 in county-wide revenue.
“It’s great to put Erie out there in a positive light and (the ACL has) done so in the past in the televised portions,” Jeanneret said. “I know the convention center really thinks a lot about how they operate their event, and we’ve received nothing but positive feedback from them from the two previous events we’ve held. I think they’re excited to explore the arena, add a new venue to the mix and make it a bigger weekend all-around.”
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Contact Jeff Uveino at juveino@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter@realjuveino.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: ACL Cornhole Mania returns to Erie, PA for three national broadcasts
