CIAA Tournament Sold Out

In in first year in Charlotte, the 61st CIAA basketball tournament has sold out. The tournament will take place at the Charlotte Bobcats Arena.

"There are no more tickets," Commissioner Leon Kerry said.

With the tournament,which begins Monday, is in Charlotte for the first time and demand for the tickets has been high.

The tournament spent six years in Raleigh at the RBC Center and attendance there increased every year, according to Kerry.

Long one of the most popular Division II basketball tournments, the CIAA event has produced a financial windfall for its 12 member schools. "Because of more corporate money, with the move to Charlotte, each school will get more general-scholarship money," Kerry said. "And that's something we are excited about it."

He estimated that close to $1 million will be divided among the schools.

Schools unhappy with their ticket allotment

As in past years, each member school was alloted just 700 ticket books to sell.

"I just think all of the member institutions should have anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000 tickets available to sell at each school," Caldwell said. "You could be given a date by which you had to sell those tickets, and if you don't sell them give them back to the CIAA office and they would sell them."

Kerry estimated that at least 51 percent of the tickets sold out of the CIAA office in Hampton, Va., went to people who aren't alumni of any of the current 12 schools.

"That has been the case for a long time," he said. "We've got alums from A&T, Hampton, and Norfolk who keep coming to the tournament year after year. And they keep buying tickets."