The basketball spotlight returns to Charlotte this week, as the city hosts the CIAA tournament.
The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association is a historically African-American athletic conference, composed of 13 colleges and universities. The CIAA’s annual tournament is one of the longest-running in college basketball, dating back to 1946.
Charlotte has hosted the tournament every year since 2006, but the streak will end following next year’s event. The CIAA voted in early January to move the tournament to Baltimore for at least three years, beginning in 2021. The association said fans were ready for a change. CIAA board chair James Anderson also cited price gouging by some Charlotte hotels.
The weeklong tournamentdraws celebrities to town, and features a line-up of parties, concerts, and cultural events. There’s also a free-admission fan fest on Friday and Saturday at the Convention Center. The Charlotte Area Visitors Authority says last year’s tournament brought more than 150,000 fans to the city, and generated an economic impact of $50.5 million.
This year’s men’s and women’s CIAA tournaments will feature a total of 24 games over the next six days. The action begins this evening at Bojangles Colisieum, including a men’s match-up between hometown Johnson C. Smith University and Chowan University in Murfreesboro, North Carolina. On Thursday, tournament action will shift to the Spectrum Center, capped off by the championship games on Saturday.
