Honoring Baltimore with virtual tourney
CIAA event scheduled to take place Feb. 23-27
The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association, of which Bowie State is a member, last month canceled its men’s and women’s basketball seasons for the first time in its 76-year history amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
As a result, Bowie State lost the opportunity to host the Division II basketball tournament at Baltimore’s Royal Farms Arena in February.
Neither entity wanted to let the opportunity to benefit both the student-athletes and city slip away, and that’s why the CIAA, the oldest historically Black athletic conference in the country, will host its first “virtual tournament week experience” in partnership with Visit Baltimore from Feb. 23-27.
The project, dubbed the “CIAA Virtual Vibe: Tournament Edition,” will host a week of diverse programming on a virtual platform designed to look like the inside of the Baltimore Convention Center.
As the pandemic continues to rage and keep health and safety restrictions in place, CIAA Commissioner Jacqie McWilliams and Visit Baltimore President and CEO Al Hutchinson spoke weekly to figure out how they could still put on a basketball tournament safely to honor the league and Baltimore City.
“We have cultural relevance,” McWilliams said. “People love our conference and what it does for the community and what it makes them feel like at the end of Black History Month. That’s something very unique about what we’re doing this year to keep people engaged for the next year and beyond.”
One of its main events is “High School Day,” which will grant a majority of its access to Baltimore City students. Programming will also include things the league would have held as if it were physically in Baltimore, such as “Fan Fest,” webinars on health and financial literacy, a career expo as well as past games so that “people can still feel engaged with the game.” The league will also celebrate its Hall of Fame.
Much of the filming began taking place around Baltimore in the past week.
Each of the CIAA’s 12 member schools had five to six players helpdesign the virtual venture, and each school will be able to host its own events that week. The other events such as “career day” will be provided to CIAA student-athletes at no cost to them. Each admissions office will also be able to use the platform to recruit.
The virtual event will also include an eSports NBA 2K video game tournament, featuring CIAA players as well as a hybrid eSports, HBCU and STEM webinar, hosted by the U.S. Army. Several CIAA schools have eSports teams already and can choose to promote their club teams during the week.
“That’s something we have just kicked off in the last five months during COVID, and have really created some unique partnerships for our 12 member institutions to be a part of, as part of the educational platform of STEM for our students of color,” McWilliams said.
Organizers hope the variety of offerings, as well as a selection of national celebrities by the member schools, will draw interest of all ages to the virtual experience.
“The exposure that Baltimore and the CIAA will get will be national,” McWilliams said. “We already get national exposure by being feet on the ground in the city. But being that this is virtual, I think there’ll be a lot more interest, a lot more people that we can reach. When we do get back to Baltimore, I do believe that we will be busting out of the seams in the city.”
The virtual event is also meant to help the city in tangible ways.
“We’re going to create ways people can support our small businesses in Baltimore that are really struggling right now,” Hutchinson said. “We’re going to make sure there are opportunities for folks to purchase gift cards, not only during the week of the tournament but also other times of year.”
The CIAA is aiming to keep the costs of preparing for and holding the weeklong virtual tournament within a $400,000 to $600,000 budget and is working with selling sponsorships to help shoulder it, as well as relying on member schools’ dues. The league is also saving cost by not having teams physically travel to the city.
Hutchinson said Visit Baltimore is looking for different local businesses and “key private sector leaders” to ensure Baltimore fully supports the venture from a tourism and business standpoint.
“This is a very important event to Baltimore,” Hutchinson said. “Although this year will be virtual, we’re invested long term with the CIAA to make sure this will be the best event they’ve ever had. Basketball is important, no question about it, but I think this is much bigger than basketball.”