Raleigh replaces CIAA with MEAC

[Justin6882]

Well, since we lost the CIAA to Charlotte and their downtown "village", hopefully Raleigh won't lose this one in three years to Charlotte after it has nurtured it into something big.

While this tournament isn't as highly attended, it is home to all Div. 1 basketball schools, and the winner of the tournament goes to the NCAA tournament.

Also looks like they're spending less to get this one...which would make sense since the projected income from the tournament is roughly half of what the CIAA supposedly brought in.

MEAC Tournament Coming to Raleigh in 2006

[romec]

It's cool that we got it for '06 and will have no "vacancy" next year.

It'll be interesting to see what happens after this contract is up: do we go after a bigger tournament, or try to continue to nurture the MEAC.

[Justin6882]

According to the business journal today, they have projected attendance at 90,000+ by the end of the run in Raleigh, and bringing in lots of $$ and hotel nights.

[JunktionFET]

Speaking of the RBC Center--has there been any word on the plans to build that urban-like village thing near it? I forget the details but I seem to recall something like that.

I might also be thinking of the TTA Rail/Fairgrounds development--close enough though. The RBC Center's location continues to disappoint me, I'd love to see what kind of plans they have to mend the error as well as they can.

Maybe they'll do it Charlotte style and tear down the arena in 10 years to build a new one downtown

[Sabaidee]

It seems the past two black coferences CIAA and MEAC, Raleigh has an excellent location. Hampton & Norfolk only a few hours away, NC A&T only an hour, however ever the other schools in the conferences are much farther away. BCC and FAMU are in Florida and Howard in DC and Maryland Eastern Shore. Raleigh do have a centralized location for these conferences, however due to the vast geographical locations of the MEAC schoools, location won't be a main selling point for Raleigh.