Charlotte loses bid to host CIAA tournaments in 2027-2029, citing scheduling conflicts as the key factor for rejection.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. β Charlotte will not regain hosting rights for the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) basketball tournaments, officials announced, ending the city’s bid to reclaim an event that generated hundreds of millions in economic impact during its run in the Queen City.
The Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority said Monday it was informed by the CIAA that Charlotte would not be considered as a host city for the upcoming tournament cycle covering 2027-2029.
“While this is not the outcome we had hoped for, we are proud of the strong, collaborative bid submitted by the City of Charlotte, the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority, and the Charlotte Sports Foundation,” the CRVA said in a statement.
Charlotte hosted the CIAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments from 2006 to 2020 at the Spectrum Center. The tournament moved to Baltimore in 2022 after a two-year pandemic hiatus.
During Charlotte’s tenure, the week-long celebration of historically Black colleges and universities generated $656 million in economic impact, according to city officials. The tournament was valued at approximately $43 million annually when it left Charlotte in 2020.
The CRVA cited scheduling conflicts as a key factor in the rejection, saying the city’s primary venues were already committed when the CIAA requested 2027 dates in early 2025.
“Our primary venues were already committed due to previously scheduled programmingβa reflection of Charlotte’s growing momentum as a premier host city,” the CRVA statement said.
City Councilman James Mitchell, a key advocate for the tournament’s return, had expressed optimism about Charlotte’s chances during a city council update on the bid process earlier this year.
“I’m confident that if we can check three boxes, we’ll have the Spectrum Center ringing for a whole week,” Mitchell said at the time, citing competitive scholarships, attractive hotel rates and exceptional venue experiences as priorities.
Charlotte’s bid highlighted the city’s advantages, including two premier venuesβBojangles Coliseum and Spectrum Centerβand proximity to seven Southern HBCU schools in North Carolina and two in South Carolina.
The CIAA, the nation’s oldest historically Black athletic conference, is made up entirely of historically Black colleges and universities. Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte and Livingstone College in Salisbury are among the 12 schools in the conference.
Baltimore has hosted the tournament since 2022 and demonstrated stronger fan engagement than Charlotte’s final years, according to Mitchell, who acknowledged that “Baltimore has figured out one thing that we were not able to do, and that’s put the fans in the game.”
The tournament also faced challenges during its Charlotte years, including safety concerns over unofficial parties and gatherings that prompted additional security measures.
North Carolina has hosted 49 of the 77 times the CIAA tournament has been held since its inception.
The CRVA said it remains “hopeful that Charlotte will have the opportunity to welcome the tournament back in the future.”
