Black-Owned Baltimore Restaurants Hope To Profit From Thousands Visiting For CIAA Basketball Tournament
Baltimore’s Black-owned restaurants are looking forward to profiting from the thousands of visitors who are expected to visit the city for the annual CIAA basketball tournament, which the city is hosting for the second year in a row.
Feb. 21 marked the tip-off for the first matches at CFG Bank Arena; the tournament runs through Feb. 25. Twelve men and women colleges will compete in what has been called the oldest historically Black basketball event.
"It's a big week for Baltimore and for the state of Maryland. In 2022, the first year of hosting the tournament, it was a $19.6 million economic impact during a pandemic year and also during a time period there was some resistance about coming to a new destination," Al Hutchinson, president and CEO of Visit Baltimore, said, according to local station WBAL.
"We're going to get tens of thousands of folks that want to eat, that want to have fun, that want to be in good atmospheres and good environments," Baltimore City Council President Nick Mosby told CBS News Baltimore.
Black Owned Restaurant Week runs during the tournament for the second consecutive year.
"Everybody is benefiting from the excitement from CIAA, and in particular, since it is a historically Black college university basketball tournament, Black-owned restaurants are benefiting as well and are getting an additional focus,” Azikiwe Deveaux, the creator of Black-Owned Restaurant Tour, told local station WMAR.
This year, the number of participating Black-owned restaurants expanded from five to nine.
"For the restaurant owners to get that shot, that's not Christmas, that's not Thanksgiving, no major holiday. So I know for a fact that the CIAA Tournament coming here in this city is just going to bring a lot of wealth to the city,” Peter Thomas, owner of Bar One Baltimore, told WMAR.
CIAA (Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association) was founded and incorporated in Washington, D.C., in 1912. Before coming to Baltimore, Charlotte, N.C. hosted the tournament for 15 consecutive years. During that 15-year run, the CIAA generated over $656 million in economic impact and produced over $402 million in direct spending for Charlotte.
