A high profile basketball tournament is set to bring teams from at least 15 states to Lawrence next month, but it also may open a debate on how often Lawrence residents can use the courts at the city’s Rock Chalk Park recreation center.

City commissioners at their meeting Tuesday will consider granting an exception to the policy that prohibits a tournament from using all eight courts at the city’s Sports Pavilion Lawrence. During the debate over whether to build the recreation center, a previous City Commission said the center would always keep one court open for local residents to have free-play opportunities during the weekends.

But now that policy is becoming more difficult to adhere to as the city competes for larger and larger youth tournaments that bring visitors and sales tax dollars to town.

“We want to build a reputation of being a good facility to work with so that we can lock down some of these big events before other large centers are built in the region,” said Ernie Shaw, the city’s leader of the Parks and Recreation Department.

City officials in 2013, however, made strong statements about how they would be committed to keeping at least one court open at all times at the 181,000-square-foot center. There was much controversy over whether the city should proceed with the $10.5 million recreation center project, which also is supported by about $12 million worth of shared infrastructure paid for by the city. Commissioners made the commitment to keep a court open to quell concerns that Lawrence residents, who pay for the majority of the facility through their sales tax dollars, wouldn’t have access to a court during tournaments that often take place during popular weekend hours.

A majority of the City Commission, however, has changed since April. Whether the Rock Chalk Park policy will change was uncertain. Commissioner Mike Amyx, who was an opponent of the project, said he has concerns about changing the policy.

“It is still important to me that we keep a court open because that is what we said we were going to do,” Amyx said.

Commissioner Matthew Herbert, who is one of the three new commissioners since April, said he wanted to hear more explanation from Parks and Recreation leaders. But he said he was open to changing the policy because the city wants to be a player in the attraction of major tournaments.

“We need to make sure we’re always serving the public, but there is some gray area here,” Herbert said. “One of the reasons we spent so much more on this center than a normal recreation center is because we were promised economic development benefits by bringing in big tournaments. If this issue causes us to lose tournaments, I think we might be shooting ourselves in the foot.”

Tuesday’s request is technically only for one tournament — the Sunflower Showcase that will be held July 23-26. But Shaw said he anticipates there will be other requests by other tournaments in the future.

“I think we want to have the flexibility to do this for large, signature events that could have a big impact for the community,” Shaw said. “You probably wouldn’t expect more than three or four of those big events per year, at most.”

Shaw said the city’s Parks and Recreation Department would commit to having at least one gym open for free play at one of the city’s other recreation centers during such weekends that all courts are reserved at Rock Chalk Park.

The Sunflower Showcase is asking for use of all eight courts for its Friday and Saturday games. The request is partly motivated by a lack of hotel rooms in the city. The basketball tournament is being held the same week that the USSSA National 14 & Under Softball Championship is in Lawrence. Chad Rader, organizer for the Sunflower Showcase, said he was not made aware of that scheduling conflict until late in the process. The result has been that many of the basketball teams had to book hotel space in Bonner Springs, Topeka or Kansas City. He said having teams staying that far away makes it difficult to get games started at 8 a.m. He wants all eight courts so he can get more games in per day.

Shaw said he understands Rader’s situation and is recommending approval of the request. He said the tournament could become an important annual event for Lawrence.

“This would be a good one to get in on the ground floor,” Shaw said. “It could be a big impact to the economy.”

Rader believes there will be about 120 teams competing at the event. Already teams have signed up from 15 states, and about a dozen of the nation’s top 100 high school players as ranked by the NikeElite program have committed to play in the tournament.

The program also falls during a key evaluation period for NCAA coaches. Kansas City is hosting two other major tournaments the same weekend, so Rader believes K.C. and Lawrence will be one of the top basketball destinations in the country that weekend.

“You very likely will see a Coack K, or a Coach Cal or a Roy back in Lawrence,” Rader said, referring to men’s coaches at Duke, Kentucky and North Carolina, respectively.

Rader said he’s optimistic scheduling issues with the softball tournament will be resolved for next year’s event. He said he wants to make the tournament an annual staple in Lawrence.

“It is just such a fantastic facility and a fantastic college atmosphere,” Rader said. “It makes all the sense in the world to have a summer basketball tournament in Lawrence.”