South Carolina, NC State to play in expanded women’s basketball event at Spectrum Center
In early November 2023, college basketball supernova Caitlin Clark scored 44 points in front of a record-setting crowd in Charlotte and made the inaugural Ally Tipoff a sight to behold.
A year later, event organizers will be running it back.
The Charlotte Sports Foundation, in partnership with Ally Financial, announced the lineup for the second-annual Ally Tipoff on Thursday. This year’s event is scheduled for Nov. 10 at the Spectrum Center in uptown, and this year will be a double-header: The first game will feature top-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks against perennial power N.C. State, and the second will be a rematch from last year — Virginia Tech vs. Iowa (albeit without Clark this time).
The games will be broadcast on ESPN platforms with specific details announced at a later date, according to a release.
“We believe the Ally Tipoff is the premier regular season women’s basketball event in the country,” said CSF executive director Danny Morrison. “Ally has been a tremendous partner and with the support of ESPN Events and the Spectrum Center, we know we will build on last year’s success and create an unmatched player and fan experience.”
Last year’s game set a record with an attendance of 15,196, the largest regular season women’s basketball game in North Carolina history. It also averaged 548,000 viewers, which at the time was the most-viewed regular season women’s college basketball game on ESPN2 since 2017, a release states.
Similar fandom could shine through in Year 2. After all, the Gamecocks coached by Dawn Staley have a pretty remarkable fan base. As of January 15, according to a release from the school, the USC women’s basketball program led the nation in average game attendance at 15,613.
“This is the type of event we love to play in — high-level opponent, regional so our FAMS can be part of the game, and backed by a sponsor who has invested in growing women’s sports,” said Staley, who’s already won an SEC Tournament championship and the SEC coach of the year honor this season. “We appreciate the Charlotte Sports Foundation and Ally Financial for coming together to create what should be a great day of women’s basketball in Charlotte — a place I know appreciates great basketball.”
In addition to unveiling the Ally Tipoff lineup, Ally and CSF have agreed to a multi-year partnership extension running through 2026, according to the release. This is the latest triumph in a big year for CSF, which also extended a partnership with Tepper Sports & Entertainment to host events at Bank of America Stadium.
This story was originally published March 14, 2024 at 9:31 AM.
