1 week Ago By Sam Cohn
One trip to the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Tournament in February, and they were sold. Position Sports, a marketing firm on a 10-year lease to operate Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame events, had an eye on Baltimore as one possible host site for their 2024 college basketball series. So they sent some folks to CFG Bank Arena for the most recent CIAA Tournament to get a lay of the land, a chance to see for themselves the ebb and flow of the only major college hoops event on Baltimore’s calendar.
“Everything that we saw looked like a great opportunity for us,” president of Position Sports Melissa Meacham-Grossman told The Baltimore Sun. Friday night, it came to life. CFG Bank Arena hosted a doubleheader of four high-major programs — Virginia vs.
Villanova, then Penn State vs. Virginia Tech. It’s the first of a two-year agreement between the Hall of Fame, Visit Baltimore and Maryland Sports Commission president Terry Hasseltine to come back to N Howard and W Baltimore Streets.
In Hasseltine’s eyes, the timing seemed to align perfectly. CFG Bank Arena broke ground on a $250 million renovation in 2022 that wrapped and officially opened by February 2023. It included hospitality areas, an adjusted seating bowl and more money funneled into giving the arena a facelift — all conducive to hosting basketball, he said.
“That’s why the Hall of Fame knocked on the door.” Those conversations started a year ago. They landed on Charm City in the spring.
Then, as a nationwide event with three other 2024 locales — Las Vegas, Phoenix, and New York City — Baltimore made sense as a their Mid-Atlantic site drawing teams from Virginia up to Pennsylvania. It fits neatly into a geographical pocket. There were hurdles to booking schools, such as figuring out which ones had an opening in their schedule this weekend.
But Meacham-Grossman was convinced by one shocking stat: none of the four teams had played in Baltimore since the 1990s. “Baltimore is a basketball town,” Hasseltine said, “especially at the high school level. But the college market is still finding an identity in Baltimore, in my humble opinion.
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Now that we have the amenities and the assets that align the building better, it gives us an opportunity to do things in the building that once weren’t there.” “It has to be economically viable for all parties,” he added. “Are we getting teams that are going to help and spend time in the market .
.. gathering before game time and spending money on the economy in Baltimore, the state’s economy? We need to make sure we’re meeting that threshold so that the cost of putting the event in the building is extremely relevant.
” Hasseltine took the phone call from inside his office where he sees the same sign every day, à la Notre Dame’s “Play Like a Champion.” His homemade version of daily empowerment reads, “Heads in Beds, Food in Bellies, Gas in Cars, Credit Cards and Cash on Counters and Butts in Seats.” “That’s what I do for the state,” he said with a laugh.
Thus, there was more to the event than just a pair of games. Last week, the Hall of Fame ran a basketball clinic at REACH! Partnership school with longtime coach Herman “Tree” Harried. Hasseltine and Meacham-Grossman hope that extends to future participating teams where they can spend an extra day in town giving back.
The CIAA — a model for what’s possible on this front — has played at CFG Bank Arena the past two years, and Baltimore will host the tournament at least through 2026. It’s as much a cultural community celebration as it is postseason basketball. With the Hall of Fame series in Baltimore on Friday night (and beyond), CFG Bank Arena is trying to capture some of that magic in regular season form.
Ace Baldwin Jr., a Penn State senior who transferred from VCU after a standout high school career at St. Frances, was the only Baltimore native on any of the four rosters.
This was his first time playing in Baltimore since joining the college ranks. Naturally, he had a few extra fans in attendance. Conversely, one of the beauties of college basketball is the single-game introduction.
For alumni in Baltimore, it might be their first time seeing these players up close. For the unfamiliar, when a not-so-local team saunters into the gym with a roster of new names, they might leave smitten for the star of the night. In the first set, that was sharpshooting Virginia junior Isaac McKneely, who sank all six of his 3-point attempts for a season-high 23 points en route to thumping Villanova, 70-60.
Later, Baldwin’s craftiness to get downhill earned him 19 points and 10 assists, complemented by some sharp shooting from senior Zach Hicks, who also logged a game-high 19, bringing local alumni to their feet in the 86-64 win. Related Articles It’s about “bringing teams that resonate with this market,” Hasseltine said. What is basketball in this market? In Baldwin’s words, it’s “real toughness and grit” with exceptional guard play.
One of the best in the country for producing top talent, he said firmly. A coincidental omen to Baltimore Catholic League Hall of Famer and former Hokies guard Malcolm Delaney sitting courtside for the night cap. Friday night drew a solid crowd hosting four teams in relative proximity, all with strong alumni bases.
Anecdotally, in the days leading up to the event, Hasseltine kept getting the same question: “Will the University of Maryland play in this in the future?” With enough headway to get on the Terps schedule, Hasseltine said, “The possibility is there.”.
