Will loss of CIAA be a game changer for Charlotte event bids?

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A year ago, Amazon.com Inc. left off Charlotte when it named 20 cities as finalists for a second headquarters project worth as much as $5 billion and 50,000 new jobs. The snub stunned local business and political leaders and provided an exclamation point for moving ahead with a just-completed $1 million merger of the city’s two most powerful economic development agencies.

The message was clear: Corporate recruiting had slipped and it was time for a dramatic overhaul. As a result, the city’s economic development arm, beginning this year, will take on a much larger role in recruiting companies, a major shift from previous policy.

James Mitchell, a City Council Democrat who leads the economic development committee, sees the loss of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association — known as the CIAA — basketball tournament in the same light. This week, the conference, made up of 12 historically black colleges and universities, chose Baltimore as the annual tournament’s new home starting in 2021.

On Tuesday, as Baltimore tourism leaders celebrated the CIAA’s announcement of the move, Mitchell told the Charlotte Business Journal that the city offered “a piss-poor bid” that was little more than a “proposal to lose” the tournament.

Charlotte is losing $50 million in annual economic impact with the tournament’s move, and some leaders say it’s a blow that will drive change in how bids for big events are put together.

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