CIAA tournaments provide economic boosts for Baltimore businesses
A dozen HBCU men's and women's basketball teams, and thousands of fans, have flocked to Baltimore this week for the annual CIAA tournaments at CFG Bank Arena.
However, it's the culture, the bands, and the influx of fans and alumni that make this a week-long celebration.
"Folks can see the food scene, they can see our history," said Al Hutchinson, the President and CEO of Visit Baltimore. "There's no doubt we are a basketball mecca, right? We've got great basketball history, but as fans come in from all around the country, we want them to really appreciate the greatness of this city."
Baltimore leaders look forward to the economic boost for local businesses. This is the fifth year Charm City has hosted the CIAA tournaments after it moved from Charlotte.
During a time when business is usually slow downtown, Visit Baltimore created directories for hotels and small Black-owned businesses to cash in on the expected $1.4 million economic impact.
"Get out into our neighborhoods, visit our attractions, everything we have to offer," Hutchinson said. "It's more than basketball, we really want to celebrate the greatness of Charm City."
In 2024, the CIAA tournaments generated $32.5 million and created 1,315 part-time and full-time jobs, officials said. The event also generated $3.1 million in state and local taxes.
Stay at the Lord Baltimore Hotel
Fans will be staying at hotels across downtown Baltimore, many of which are already sold out, but at the Lord Baltimore Hotel, a set of fans will enjoy a curated room that brings Black Baltimore to life.
"We are blessed here that we've got some alumni groups, and alumni groups are way fun," said Lee Johnson-Lowe, with the Lord Baltimore Hotel. "They really enjoy the hotel. We have a lot of elements here at the hotel with our theater where we do magic shows and murder mysteries."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
25 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Fisk University women's gymnastics team, the first at an HBCU, to stop competing after 2026
NASHVILLE — Fisk University's bold experiment in women's gymnastics is coming to an end. The school has announced it is shuttering the program at the end of the 2026 season. Fisk made history in 2023 when it became the first historically Black college or university to launch a women's artistic gymnastics team.
San Francisco Chronicle
an hour ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Fisk University women's gymnastics team, the first at an HBCU, to stop competing after 2026
NASHVILLE (AP) — Fisk University's bold experiment in women's gymnastics is coming to an end. The school has announced it is shuttering the program at the end of the 2026 season. Fisk made history in 2023 when it became the first historically Black college or university to launch a women's artistic gymnastics team. Fisk's ambitious move to start the program played a hand three years later in the athletic department choosing to discontinue it. Scheduling became challenging because gymnastics is the only sport at Fisk that does not compete against other HBCU schools, forcing the program to get creative and requiring the team to travel longer distances than the university's other sports. 'While we are tremendously proud of the history our gymnastics team has made in just three years, we look forward to focusing on our conference-affiliated teams to strengthen our impact in the HBCU Athletic Conference,' athletic director Valencia Jordan said in a statement. 'Fisk is grateful for the hard work, dedication and tenacity of its gymnasts, staff members, and coaches who made this program possible.' The school said it will work with the affected athletes and coaches to ensure a 'seamless transition.' The announcement came just weeks after Fisk standout Morgan Price — a three-time All-American who became the first HBCU gymnast to record a perfect 10 — transferred to Arkansas, where she will join her older sister Frankie. Talladega College, an HBCU in Alabama, attempted to follow in Fisk's footsteps in 2024. That program shut down after one season due to financial concerns. ___
Miami Herald
an hour ago
- Miami Herald
The Justice Department wants to end an agreement it reached with a Pa. bank it accused of redlining in Philly
Two years ago, the U.S. Department of Justice accused a Pennsylvania bank of redlining - avoiding lending in majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in and around Philadelphia. ESSA Bank & Trust, based in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, denied the accusations but entered into a settlement agreement with the federal government in which the bank had to give more than $2.9 million in loan subsidies to homebuyers in formerly redlined communities. The bank also agreed to devote resources to soliciting mortgage applications from Philadelphia residents in neighborhoods it was accused of ignoring, to include Philadelphians in its program for low- and moderate-income homebuyers, to work with local groups to provide homebuyer education, and to target historically excluded neighborhoods with its advertising. On Friday, the Justice Department asked the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to allow it to end the five-year agreement three years early. The court filing is in line with other recent Justice Department moves across the country to end similar fair-housing and antidiscrimination settlement agreements. Lisa Rice, president and CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance, said in a statement that by taking these actions, "this administration is empowering bad actors and leaving millions of our nation's most vulnerable unprotected and exposed." The Justice Department said in its motion Friday that ESSA Bank "has demonstrated a commitment to remediation," including disbursing required loan subsidies, and is "substantially in compliance" with other terms of the court order. The bank did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday. The department noted that its motion was "unopposed." But on Monday, the National Fair Housing Alliance and local civil rights organizations filed a motion asking to join the case and opposing cutting short the legal agreement. "This effort would strip West and Southwest Philadelphia communities of the hard-won protections they were promised just two years ago," Rachel Wentworth, executive director of the nonprofit Housing Equality Center of Pennsylvania, said in a statement. "For decades, banks of all kinds have used redlining to deny neighborhoods of color access to wealth and opportunity, and ending this consent order sends a devastating message to these communities." The Philadelphia-based Public Interest Law Center and the law firm Stapleton Segal Cochran LLC, which has offices in Philadelphia and Marlton, are representing the Housing Equality Center, the National Fair Housing Alliance, and POWER Interfaith, the Pennsylvania faith-based community organizing network, as they oppose the Justice Department's motion to end the agreement. Eli Segal of Stapleton Segal Cochran said in a statement that "the rule of law demands more here than vague assurances of 'substantial compliance.' It demands court-ordered action." Olivia Mania, attorney and Penn Carey Law Catalyst Fellow at the Public Interest Law Center, said in an interview that "communities in and around Philadelphia deserve access to a lending market that's free from discrimination." "This isn't just about one bank," Mania said in a statement. "It's about whether the federal government will honor its role in dismantling structural racism in the housing market - or walk away when the cameras are off. The parties should be held to the terms of the consent order to ensure real, lasting change." Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
