Record numbers for CIAA Tourney
The 2006 CIAA Basketball Tournament, held in Uptown Charlotte this past Feb. 27 _ March 3, was the conference's largest event ever in terms of attendance for the tournament and its ancillary events.
CIAA fans came in record numbers to Charlotte and Mecklenburg County to experience
the Tournament activities resulting in over $10
million in direct spending and an economic impact of $15.4 million. The city also experienced
high hotel occupancies with CIAA fans using more than 25,000 hotel rooms during the week.
Over 124,000 CIAA fans attended game sessions and Super Saturday festivities at the Charlotte Bobcats Arena during Tournament week. This represents a thirteen-percent (13%) increase from last year's tournament held in Raleigh and was driven by increased attendance for the early round sessions and a record crowd for the Super Saturday activities.
"The 2006 Tournament was our best ever and was certainly our largest in the history of the conference," said Commissioner Leon Kerry. "The city of Charlotte really proved themselves as a big-time event town and our fans had a great experience this year. And I can't say enough about the Charlotte Bobcats Arena which proved to be an absolute perfect fit for this event."
This year, besides the basketball tournament itself, fans enjoyed The CIAA Fashion Show, CIAA's Showtime at the Apollo and Whispers concert events, the CIAA Super Saturday activities, the CIAA step show and many business socials, after-parties and reunions.
New to the 2006 Tournament was the CIAA Fan Experience, which offered free admission and included interactive activities and performances that drew fans to the Charlotte Convention Center throughout the week. The CIAA Fan Experience was completely underwritten by the CIAA sponsors.
In addition to basketball tournament action, accessible only through the purchase of week-long tickets books, another 35,000 fans attended the additional CIAA ticketed or free events. Attendance at the three-day Fan Experience surpassed 20,000.
Traditional CIAA events such as the Fashion Show, Step Show and after-party also enjoyed record attendance.
"Throughout each phase of planning for this tournament and the events surrounding it, I promised Commissioner Kerry and his team that this tournament in Charlotte would be the very best in CIAA history," said Lenny Springs, Chairman of the Charlotte Tournament Committee. "I believe we succeeded."
Ticket sales, sponsor revenues and media fees for all CIAA-sponsored events, combined with the host city financial commitments, offset the CIAA's operating costs and ultimately provide a contribution to the CIAA scholarship fund and its twelve institutions.
For more information about the CIAA conference or the 2007 Tournament to be held February 25 _ March 3, 2007 in Charlotte, please visit www.ciaatournament.org.
© 2006 Azeez Communications, Inc.