Now that Pierce County is on verge of Phase 3 return, will there be a need for the Washington State Fairgrounds to host any more basketball?

It took two weeks to transform an old livestock arena at the Washington State Fair Events Center into a makeshift gymnasium - all in an effort to guarantee that 4A SPSL and 3A PCL basketball seasons would go on this spring.

And after "The Arena" opened Wednesday for games, another layer of uncertainty hit 24 hours later.

On Thursday afternoon, Governor Jay Inslee announced that all counties in the state of Washington, including Pierce County, would return to Phase 3 starting next Tuesday.

Under that COVID-19 recovery guideline, that means high-school basketball can be played indoors at home gymnasiums - thus eliminating the need for the temporary fairgrounds' venue.

So what will these two leagues do, pending Phase 3-return approval by the Pierce County Health Department?

Nobody is certain, 4A SPSL basketball commissioner Tim Thomsen said.

"This is a challenging thing," Thomsen said.

Athletic directors from both leagues will hold a meeting Friday to discuss options - hopefully with an answer from county health officials in hand.

Thomsen said he polled 4A SPSL coaches about four feasible options:

*Return to home gymnasiums immediately Tuesday for the rest of the spring season.

*Return to home gymnasiums after the first half of league play concludes at the end of next week.

*Stay at the Washington State Fairgrounds for the rest of league play, then hold a postseason tournament at home gymnasiums.

*Return to home gymnasiums for the rest of the regular season, then return to the fairgrounds for a postseason tournament.

The preferred option of most coaches SBLive WA spoke to Thursday night at "The Arena" was to go back to home gymnasiums immediately.

But they concede it isn't a cut-and-dry answer, given all the resources that were exhausted to turn a livestock arena into a three-court facility.

"I would love to go home ... but there was some money donated to get this thing going just out of love so kids can play," Mount Tahoma High School boys coach Jason Townsend said, "Those who donated that deserve us to be here, and it is up to us to show appreciation for the hard work they have done.

"I don't mind playing in this atmosphere based on that."

Most of the 3A PCL squads took the floor at "The Arena" for the first time Thursday night, including up-tempo boys teams Mount Tahoma, Spanaway Lake, Wilson and Lakes.

And on occasion, some quick-cutting players lost footing on the plastic sport-court surface - a cause for concern among coaches.

"I give nothing but kudos to the SPSL, our league, and to our athletic director. The time people put into making this happen, it is awesome," Wilson boys coach Mike Cocke said. "But as a basketball purist … I think it is dangerous.

"But here we are. We will play our two games this week, and hopefully get back to normal next week."

The arena will likely stay as is for the next few weeks, basketball games or not. Some wrestling meets could move into the facility as well.

(Photo by Vince Miller)