With 2008 tourney on the horizon, CIAA's Kerry takes time to look ahead
Roscoe Nance
BCSP Correspondent
Imagine putting on a basketball tournament with a $500 budget, and the championship game a triple-overtime thriller drawing 2,000 fans.
That was the CIAA Basketball Tournament's modest beginning
62 years ago.
Today, as it prepares for its 63rd annual Tournament a week-long celebration of hoops, history and fun it is the third most successful event of its kind, trailing only the ACC and SEC tournaments.
More than 115,000 fans attended the CIAA tournament last year at 19,077-seat Bobcats Arena in Charlotte. The tournament accounted for direct spending of more than $18 million and a total economic impact of $27.7 million for the area.
Commissioner Leon G. Kerry has signed a new three-year contract that will keep the tournament in Charlotte through 2011, and he is bullish on making the tournament even bigger.
"I think we can get bigger,'' Kerry says. "How big? I don't know. We're challenged to have other events to keep people coming. "We've found out in marketing the CIAA that everybody has a basketball tournament. You have to do something different to keep people coming and wanting to be a part of it.''
The marriage between Charlotte and the CIAA has proven to be a good one. There are about 100,000 more people in Charlotte than in Raleigh, the tournament's previous home, and being in Charlotte puts the tournament more accessible to fans in South Carolina and Atlanta, fertile markets in Kerry's mind.
But that doesn't mean that Kerry is wedded to keeping the tournament in Charlotte beyond 2011. He says the tournament will remain in the Queen City "until something comes up better.''
"We've got sponsors I couldn't get in Raleigh or Winston-Salem,'' he says. "I got sponsors who doubled their money because we're here.''
Washington and Atlanta have been mentioned as possible future sites.
"We'd like to get in the Atlanta market as far as schools is concerned,'' Kerry says. "But you don't want to lose your fan base. You get stretched out there looking for bigger and better. You got to see where fans are willing to travel to. If I had two schools there, Atlanta would work.
"D.C. is not out the question. We have a lot of fans and alumni in D.C. Washington is not out, and neither is Atlanta. (But) You got to do it right. This thing is like a chess game. You move here, but you have to look out for what the consequences are. Does somebody come in your back door and steal your fans?''
In Part II: Going Mainstream, Roscoe Nance talks with Commissioner Kerry about moving to the next level.
© 2008 Azeez Communications, Inc.