The men’s and women’s basketball tournaments for the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association will remain in Baltimore for at least the next four years.

Despite an overture from Charlotte, North Carolina – the tournaments’ previous home for 15 years – the CIAA Board of Directors composed of the presidents of the 13 universities voted to sign a new contract that will keep the oldest historically Black athletic conference’s premier event in Baltimore from 2027 to 2029.

“It feels like Baltimore is our family,” CIAA commissioner Jacqie McWilliams Parker said. “We’re part of Charm City. Like the mayor says, we’re like Old Bay and crabs. We fit together pretty well.”

Officials from the league, city and state gathered Wednesday afternoon at the Baltimore Visitor Center to welcome the news.

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates and former Maryland Lieutenant Gov. Boyd Rutherford were some of the luminaries who attended the celebration.

“Thank you for your continued belief and support of Baltimore by keeping the baddest and Blackest basketball tournament in the baddest and Blackest city during Black history month,” Scott quipped.

“This is about the relationship, values and partnership that we have with one another, that we will continue to build on together as we continue to chart this passage of legacy of both the CIAA and Baltimore,” Scott said later. “Our commitment to doing that along with you is fueled by the most powerful love known to humankind, and that’s Black Baltimore love.”Representing Gov. Wes Moore, Stephen Rice, the state’s deputy secretary of commerce, said the CIAA and Baltimore deserve each other.

“I wish I had the time — but I don’t — to talk to you about all of the basketball legends that call Baltimore home,” he said. “But going back, the heritage of the Dunbar Poets, the legacy of (15-year NBA veteran) Sam Cassell and Melo (10-time NBA All-Star Carmelo Anthony), the Dome, there’s so much history. Baltimore is basketball. So at a very fundamental level, this makes a lot of sense.”

Since the CIAA Tournament left Charlotte after the 2019-20 season, Baltimore has been home to the event and is scheduled to play host to the 2026 tournament. Last week, city officials made their case to keep the event to the CIAA Board of Directors.

Part of the presentation included economic numbers shared by outgoing Visit Baltimore President and CEO Al Hutchinson. February’s tournament generated a total economic impact of $27.4 million and direct spending impact of $19.8 million during the event’s five days. The tournament supported almost 1,500 full- and part-time jobs and generated $2.4 million in state and local taxes.

Since the first in-person tournaments in 2022, Baltimore has enjoyed an annual spike in economic impact and attendance. The games in 2022 produced $19.6 million in economic impact and 36,390 fans, the tournaments in 2023 manufactured $29.6 million and 38,450 attendees, and the games in 2024 generated $32.5 million and 43,450 fans.

As promising as those numbers were, they fall short of the tournaments’ output in Charlotte. For example, the games in 2019 raised $43.7 million in economic impact and drew about 140,000 fans.

But Hutchinson said that Baltimore officials were not concerned with Charlotte’s bid nor considered they owned an advantage over Charlotte after being the most recent hosts of the CIAA Tournament.

“I think our approach to this bid all the time was, let’s give our best case offering to the CIAA conference,” he said. “You never assume anything, and we wanted to approach it both professionally and also truthfully. We were proud of what we have been able to deliver for the CIAA as well as the community of Baltimore City and the state, but we never assumed that we would be awarded three additional years of the tournament. We believe we gave it our best case example of what Baltimore could do, and we’re grateful to the presidents for their vote of confidence.”

The Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority announced late last month that the city’s proposal had been bypassed by the CIAA.

McWilliams Parker acknowledged that Charlotte’s inability to host the CIAA Tournament in 2027 because of an already scheduled conflict played a role in the conference turning down that city’s offer. She said Baltimore’s bid was in-depth.

“I think Baltimore did a really good job in just showing up authentically in their leadership on wanting the CIAA to be here in this community, and the connection point and the value of what it feels like for us to be working together, it’s just kind of shown up,” she said. “They’ve helped us do some unique things here over the past four years that we’ve been here, and there’s a continued drive to make sure that we continue to do that and even more, to make sure that the community can feel the impact, our schools could feel the impact, the city feels the impact, our membership, our students. It’s kind of like an organic, natural fit right now for where we are and where Baltimore is that allows us to continue to do the great work.”

Baltimore’s package was well-received by the CIAA Board of Directors. Eleven of the 12 presidents voted for Baltimore, which delighted Hutchinson.

“I think what it really states is that those presidents see and felt the love and confidence from Mayor Scott, from Governor Moore, from the business community and definitely from Visit Baltimore,” he said. “We demonstrated to them that we wanted them in our community, that we knew how to appreciate value, the student-athletes, the fans, the alumni, the staffs of the institutions, and I think that came across loud and clear in the bid that we submitted, and I think it also came across loud and clear doing the pitch that we did a week ago. The votes showed, and I think it just states the continued confidence that the presidents have in Charm City.”

Representing Kevin Plank, CEO of Under Armour, which is a major sponsor of the tournament, director of sports marketing Eric Ogbogu said the priority is to build on the partnership.

“So what does this all mean? It means we’re not done,” he said. “It means we are doubling down on what matters, on impact, on opportunity and, most importantly, on Baltimore. The CIAA is a movement, and we are proud to be in that arena with you. Let’s keep building.”

Brenda A. Allen, president of Lincoln University and vice chair of the CIAA Board of Directors, noted that she had a personal reason for voting for Baltimore.

“We hadn’t won a CIAA Tournament ever, and since we’ve been in Baltimore, we’ve won twice,” she said, referring to the women’s championship in 2022 and the men’s title in 2024. “So there’s something about Baltimore and Lincoln University that we are so happy to be back in Baltimore. We’re going to see what we can do for the next — what do we have? — four more years. So I just want to say that I am so happy to be back in Baltimore knowing that we will be here through 2029 and dare I say beyond.”

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