Three years of college basketball championships are coming to Charlotte
The Big South tournament men’s and women’s basketball championships will be coming to Charlotte for three years starting in 2021, conference officials announced Tuesday.
This will be the first time the Big South Conference basketball championships will be held in Charlotte.
The early March 2021 tournaments will feature at least eight Big South men’s and women’s basketball teams at the Bojangles’ Coliseum.
The conference will also host several other events during the championship week, including cheerleading competitions, fan festivals and possible concerts or eSports events, according to the conference.
“We’re hoping the whole week of competition provides a homecoming-type atmosphere where alumni clubs, boosters, fans and students all have a chance to mingle and network and enjoy Charlotte,” chairman of the Big South CEOs Taylor Reveley IV said in a statement.
‘A great city’
The Charlotte pick marks the first time since 2003 the conference has hosted its basketball championships at a neutral site.
The Big South conference includes Campbell University, Charleston Southern University, Gardner-Webb University, Hampton University, High Point University, Longwood University, Presbyterian College, Radford University, UNC Asheville, USC Upstate and Winthrop University.
“Charlotte is a great city in the middle of our footprint,” Gardner-Webb coach Tim Craft said in a statement. “Having the tournament there can be a really great thing for our league, especially if we can be there for a number of years and build it into something where Charlotte becomes the home of the Big South tournament.”
Charlotte was among a group of cities, including Winston-Salem and Hampton, Va., that were being considered for the neutral site venue, according to the conference. The Big South conference headquarters are located in Charlotte, and conference commissioner Kyle Kallander said the conference believed Charlotte would be the best place to host.
“It’s great to be in Charlotte,” he said Tuesday. “We’re excited for the madness to begin.”
Kallander said the last championship games sold about 5,000 seats. The Bojangles’ Coliseum features 8,600 seats.
“The reason we wanted a three-year commitment (in Charlotte), was to be able to grow and build on the tournament,” he said.
The Bojangles’ Coliseum, built in 1955, went through $16 million in renovations in 2015, including replacing the sound system, expanding locker rooms and replacing the scoreboard.
Charlotte hosted three major basketball events between February and March 2019 — the NBA All-Star Weekend, CIAA Men’s and Women’s Tournament and the 2019 New York Life ACC Tournament. Those events brought in a combined $167 million in economic impact to the area, according to the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority.
This story was originally published November 19, 2019 at 2:15 PM.
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