CIAA
Tournament Attendance Increases for Sixth Consecutive Year
2005 Event Closes its Stint in Raleigh with
Another Record-Setting Performance
March 15, 2005
RALEIGH, N.C. — Fueled by a complete sellout of all available ticket books, the 2005 Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association’s annual basketball tournament once again drew a record number of fans for the sixth consecutive year in Raleigh, the tournament’s last before moving to Charlotte for the 2006 – 2008 tournaments. Based on daily turnstile counts from the RBC Center, as well as pass gate entries for youth groups, sponsors and conference guests, the official attendance of this year’s week-long event was 110,028 compared to 104,564 in 2004.Fans enjoyed activities at the RBC Center from Feb. 28 – March 5, including men’s and women’s games and the high-energy Super Saturday festivities. This was the first year that every single ticket book for the CIAA Tournament was sold, eliminating single-session tickets, which may have prevented even higher attendance figures.
“The CIAA is proud of what we have been able to accomplish over the past six years as an organization,” CIAA Commissioner Leon G. Kerry said. “We have grown our fan base geographically and demographically allowing us to draw more CIAA alums and non-alumni, alike, to the tournament. The growth and marketing of the CIAA is an on-going process and we are working toward making the Charlotte experience bigger and better.”
“We are delighted that attendance figures have increased for a sixth consecutive year,” said Dave Heinl, president of the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau. “Based on that report, we hope that economic impact and total room night figures, when calculated, will be up as well. It's a real credit to the CIAA's many alumni and fans, along with event organizers, that the Tournament's steady growth pattern continued this year.”
In 2004, the CIAA tournament generated $983,304 in tax revenues, from state and local tax, hotel occupancy and food and beverage tax. Heinl said it would be seven to 10 days before the Raleigh CVB will be able to accurately report these figures for 2005, but estimates it will exceed $12 million. The 2004 economic impact to the City of Raleigh was $11.5 million.
The CIAA headquarters also said it would be several weeks before it would be able to accurately report ticket and sponsor revenues, which dictate the amount of scholarship dollars generated for the 12 member schools. In 2005, the conference generated $786,900 for the general scholarship fund through host city commitments, ticket and sponsor revenue.
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