Charlotte leaders launch bid for CIAA football title game

TROY HULL | THE CHARLOTTE POST

Charlotte organizers plan to submit a bid to host the CIAA football title game at 10,000-seat Memorial Stadium starting in 2025.

Four years after bidding farewell to the CIAA basketball tournament, Charlotte intends to bid for the conference’s football title game.

City Council member James Mitchell confirmed to The Post Tuesday that Charlotte will submit a request for proposal by March 15 to host the postseason showcase starting in 2025. The game has been played in Salem, Virginia, since 2016 after the CIAA moved it from Durham due to North Carolina’s HB2, the so-called “bathroom bill.”

“We’re going to put our best foot forward to hopefully bring this from Salem, Virginia to Memorial Stadium,” Mitchell said. It's a three-year obligation. And we’ve got the ‘A’ team – all hands on deck.”

That includes Charlotte alumni of all 13 CIAA schools to pitch the football bid, Mitchell said. They’re invited to participate in a promotional video shoot at Memorial Stadium Feb. 29 at 5 p.m.

The Charlotte organizing group includes the Charlotte Sports Foundation; Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority; 100 Black Men of Charlotte; city of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County.

Other potential football suitors include Salem, Winston-Salem and Durham.

Charlotte organizers are looking to add another Black college showcase after taking a pair of hits to its portfolio. The Queen City Battle of the Bands, which routinely sold out Memorial Stadium, moved to Houston in 2018 with organizers citing a lack of interest from city leaders. Baltimore outbid Charlotte for the CIAA tournament a year later after a record 15-year run that drove an estimated $50 million in annual economic impact.

“I think we’ve got to reimagine our relationship” with the CIAA, Mitchell said. “The way we [lost] that basketball tournament, it tells me we need to rebrand and show the CIAA – particularly because their office is here – that we are committed to their conference. I think the best way to do that is take the football championship and make it a marquee event for them.”

Mitchell said the initial plan is market a weekend of activities capped by the football title game that can draw alumni and students across the CIAA footprint, which stretches from South Carolina to Pennsylvania.

“We think it’s a better location,” Mitchell said. “It’s a great opportunity for them to rebrand the football championship and then at the same time, start to build goodwill with the CIAA.”

Charlotte would host the game at 10,000-seat Memorial Stadium near Center City, which has undergone extensive renovations to host soccer and football. Mitchell said the CIAA title game would be organized and marketed by Charlotte Sports Foundation, which sponsors high-profile events including the Duke’s Mayo Classic, Duke’s Mayo Bowl and Atlantic Coast Conference football title game at Bank of America Stadium as well as the Jumpman Invitational at Spectrum Center. 100 Black Men would be tasked with developing community- and student-engagement events.

“[CSF President] Danny Morrison and that group has got great experience because they’re the ones that hosted the [2022 Duke’s Mayo] Classic between North Carolina A&T and North Carolina Central, so we know we’ve got an ‘A’ team when it comes to the game,” Mitchell said. “What we can do is talk about a career fair, job fair, other ways to the raise the CIAA’s profile, and particularly try to get more dollars for scholarships for the universities.”

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