The city of Charlotte, Charlotte Sports, and the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority sent a bid to host the CIAA Men and Women’s Basketball tournaments.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. β The Charlotte City Council is scheduled to receive an update on Monday about its bid to host the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Tournament again.
Starting with the 2027 tournament, the city of Charlotte, Charlotte Sports, and the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority sent a bid to host the CIAA Men and Women’s Basketball tournaments.Β
During the regularly scheduled city council meeting Monday evening, Steve Bagwell and Mike Butts of the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority are scheduled to provide council members with an update.
The CIAA is a conference in Division II of the NCAA. The conference is made up entirely of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte and Livingstone College in Salisbury are among the 12 schools in the conference.
Charlotte hosted the CIAA basketball tournaments from 2006 to 2020 at the Spectrum Center. The tournaments moved to Baltimore in 2022. North Carolina has hosted 49 of the 77 times the event has been held.
When the tournament left the Queen City in 2020, WCNC Charlotte reportedly valued the tournament’s economic impact at around $43 million. The tournament also featured a job fair for students.
There were also safety and security concerns that came with the tournament. In 2019, CIAA commissioner Jacqie McWilliams said authorities would shut down any unofficial parties using the CIAA name. Unofficial gatherings, McWilliams explained, did not have safety plans vetted by city or tournament officials. Those unofficial parties have caused trouble in years past.Β
In a related action, Epicentre, the tourism complex at East Trade Street and South College Street now known as the Queen City Quarter, addedΒ metal detectors during the tournament.
The Charlotte City Council meeting is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. in Room 267 of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center. The meeting will also stream live on the WCNC+ app, which you can download for free to your smart tv.
