Top women’s teams coming to Charlottetown
Atlantic Slam will feature NCAA Division 1 tournament at Eastlink Centre in November
Some of the top United States women’s collegiate basketball players are coming to Eastlink Centre in Charlottetown, SaltWire has learned.
On Ice Entertainment Ltd., based out of Toronto, and the Charlottetown arena are in negotiations to bring the first-ever Atlantic Slam, an NCAA Division 1 college basketball tournament to Eastlink Centre, Nov. 22-24, 2024.
It is a similar tournament to the men’s event that debuted this past November in Moncton, N.B., featuring Gardner-Webb, Yale, Weber State and Colgate. All games were televised on ESPN+ and TSN+.
The event in Charlottetown will involve four teams, one of which is Ole Miss (University of Mississippi), which fell to Notre Dame in this year’s second round of the NCAA women’s tournament. That school has already been signed and has committed to coming to the P.E.I. capital. The remaining three teams have yet to be signed. Representatives from On Ice Entertainment Ltd. will be in Cleveland, Ohio, to negotiate with other schools as part of a trade show that takes place during the Final Four basketball tournament.
South Carolina, the topranked team in the country, and Iowa, a final four semifinalist, are two of the teams they will be talking to.
Talks will also be held with the other two teams in the Final Four, NC State and U Conn.
John Abbott, general manager of Eastlink Centre and board chair with Charlottetown Civic Centre Management Inc., would only say
“The event is coming. We’ve secured the event. What we’re in negotiations for is the remaining three teams.”
John Abbott
General manager of Eastlink Centre
he guarantees the remaining three teams will be from this year’s Sweet 16.
“We’re still in negotiations,” Abbott said. “The event is coming. We’ve secured the event. What we’re in negotiations for is the remaining three teams.”
P.E.I. fans are not likely to see Caitlin Clark, the Iowa senior who has lit NCAA women’s basketball on fire this season, since she has committed to the WNBA next year.
Graham did tell SaltWire the timing of bringing this tournament to Charlottetown is right.
“I would say that it will be the end of April before all the teams are confirmed (for Charlottetown), but women’s basketball has definitely exploded and timing is everything and we’re delighted on the direction it’s going,” Graham said between flights from Germany to Arizona. “You will hear a lot more in the near future.”
Abbott said these will not be exhibition games; they will count in the win/loss column for the teams’ 202425 seasons.
Graham said this will not just be a three-day tournament. There will be lots of other activities going on, although he would not expand on that yet.
Graham said the Atlantic Slam in Charlottetown is a multi-year agreement and his team already has signed two of four teams for 2025, although he said that will not be revealed until the news conference for this year’s event.
“It’s going to be a very, very big annual event,” he said.
Graham said Eastlink Centre’s size fits in very well with what they are looking to make happen in the Atlantic Slam.
“If we put 3,200 or 2,800 people in there and it’s on ESPN and your play-by-play guy is Rod Black, it’s real.”