The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association men’s and women’s basketball tournaments will stay in Baltimore for at least another two years, through 2025.
Officials from the city and the nation’s oldest historically Black athletic conference made the joint announcement Wednesday afternoon that they had agreed to a two-year extension — less than four months after the tournaments’ five-day run at Royal Farms Arena in February.
The tournaments’ appearance in Baltimore was the CIAA’s first since 1952. The league of 12 men’s and women’s basketball programs from mostly historically Black colleges and universities had moved north from Charlotte, North Carolina, where the tournament had been for 15 years.
Baltimore and the CIAA had agreed to a three-year contract in January 2019, but the tournaments scheduled for 2021 were canceled due to concerns caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Next season would have been the final year before the conference considered another destination.
On May 19, an economic impact report produced by the CIAA and Visit Baltimore showed the tournaments welcomed 36,390 unique attendees over 22 games that accounted for a direct spending impact of $13.9 million and a total economic impact of $19.6 million.
The 36,390 figure differs from the 66,000 announced on March 14. The latter total was based on the number of fans who moved through the turnstiles at Royal Farms Arena throughout the tournaments. The former figure counts each fan once per entry and was used in the algorithm to help produce the economic impact totals.
Those numbers pale in comparison to the annual $55 million economic impact the tournaments generated in Charlotte via spending at area restaurants, lodging, museums, attractions and other city landmarks. But CIAA and Baltimore officials had long tempered expectations, citing the chilling effect of the coronavirus pandemic and the relative newness of the tournaments in a different city.
According to the same economic report, the tournaments supported 1,159 part-time and full-time jobs and generated $1.9 million in state and local taxes. The games also produced $11 million in participant and spectator off-site spending with $3.2 million spent in the food and beverage industry, $2.7 million in lodging, $2.1 million in entertainment and attractions and $1.9 million in retail.
And 110 minority-owned businesses contracted by the Baltimore Sports Tourism Development Council to partner with the tournaments received a direct economic spend of just over $1 million according to the report.
Visit Baltimore president and executive director Al Hutchinson said the occupancy rate for Baltimore hotels from Feb. 24-26 was at 65.5% with an average daily rate of $167, the highest occupancy rate during that time since 2007. He also said hotels received $3,239,307 in revenue, the second-highest total over the same period since 2015.
This story may be updated.
