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You believe the tourism board is fudging numbers to make the impact of CIAA more significant, as opposed to other events like the ACC tourney, March Madness or Speed Street. Based on your...hunch?
I'd love to see ANY proof you have. Even a tidbit of information or actual data to support your ridiculous claim.
The CIAA is considered an extraordinary event just like Speed Street by the city. So the policing costs are virtually identical.
Where do you people come up with this bs??
Every year the same people run on here to post ignorance because the CIAA brings people "those people"
Honestly, for an event as big as CIAA it's pretty impressive how low the crime stats are during this event.
This has been a challenge for the tournament for quite awhile now. Especially since they have been in Charlotte for the past couple of years. Everyone is geared towards the non-sports events and parties...especially those events and parties in which celebrities are present. I remember when I was working in Winston-Salem back in the 90's, the tournament was definitely a bona fide basketball event....parties and events were secondary.
Convention and Tourism spinners claim the CIAA brings in millions. How much does it cost the city in police overtime and other city services to manage the event? How about the image the CIAA brings with it. It may not be the people who attend the games and socialize, but it brings plenty of "outsiders" who come to town to party and look for trouble. Whatever the facts, the CIAA brings an image that people of all colors in this city would rather send down the road to Atlanta or up to Norfolk --- anyplace but Charlotte.
Why do we not see crime stories about shootings and stabbings when it comes to the ACC tournament or March Madness or the NASCAR Speed Week or other special events that bring tens of thousands from the surrounding states? Makes one wonder - is the CIAA really a good deal for Charlotte?
Keeping the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association in Charlotte for six more years comes with a price tag of at least $2 million more in taxpayer money, according to terms of the contract outlined by tourism and conference executives Wednesday afternoon. In return, the Virginia-based conference of historically black colleges and universities will move its league headquarters here next year while also committing to stage the annual men’s and women’s basketball tournaments in Charlotte through 2020.
As far as the return goes:
Quote:
The city-owned arena, managed by the NBA Hornets, began hosting the conference tournament in 2006. Mayor Dan Clodfelter said Wednesday the CIAA basketball tournament (men’s and women’s games are played during the same week) adds $30 million per year to the local economy through direct visitor spending on hotel rooms, dining out and shopping.
As far as attendance goes: As many have already stated the ACC tournament is pretty damn empty until the championship game, and as far as the CIAA goes, again as others have already stated, it bringing in tons of people, they're simply not watching the games.
There is no easy solution to this quagmire. Charlotte signed on to host the tournament for another six years. The CIAA brings in $30 million to the city, including 40,000 hotel rooms, the city’s tourism authority said.
As far as the negative views based on the events at the Music Factory: From CMPD Chief Deputy Jeff Estes own words:
Quote:
It's the second year that violence cast a negative light on tournament weekend. But despite some negative comments, CMPD says it's all about context.
"I really kind of take offense to someone who would paint with a broad brush, a good tournament with good crowds based on two acts of violence that happened to take place during the weekend," said CMPD Chief Deputy Jeff Estes.
Yeah the traffic and blaring music gets annoying (for one weekend once a year), but the economic impact makes up for it. Pretty impressive for a DII tourney.
Violence happens anytime you have large groups of people partying. A couple of gun shots, though unfortunate, is pretty isolated here. Hope it stays here for good. Much like Atlanta is an epicenter city for black culture. Charlotte is as well, imo. This tourney is important.
It sounds like the author of the article wants the tournament back in a small town where "fixed income" people can actually attend the games and that corporate America has somehow made this a much worse event. That's quite amusing. Corporate America doesn't force people to avoid going to games but they are in business to make money, that'd happen whether it's in Charlotte, Winston, Richmond or any other city that could host an event of this size.
The tournament isn't really something I'd go to but the impact to the local economy is nice and any time you have crowds of that size from all over you are bound to have some disturbances. It really sounds more like the other locations, such as the Music Factory, need to enhance their own security during these events more so than anything is "wrong" with the CIAA activities or attendance being a problem. Certainly wouldn't think it's an issue since they just signed an extension to keep it in the Queen City.
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