Black-owned Baltimore restaurants looking forward to CIAA tournament

BALTIMORE - The CIAA basketball tournament returns to Baltimore this week, in the second year of the league's agreement with the city.

The tournament, dubbed the oldest historically Black basketball event, is expected to be an economic boom, according to Baltimore City leaders.

"We're going to get tens of thousands of folks that want to eat, that want to have fun, that want to be in good atmospheres and good environments," Baltimore City Council President Nick Mosby said.

This week, 12 men and women colleges will compete on the basketball court.

However, this week is about much more than a basketball tournament. It's a celebration.

"It's like reflective of an HBCU homecoming," Azikiwe Deveaux said.

For the second year in a row, Black Owned Restaurant Week will take place during tournament week.

This year, it is expected to be bigger and better.

"Last year was the inaugural year," Deveaux said. "It went really well, allowed us to get more support for it, do more with it and give it more exposure. This year we are expecting it to be bigger. We added new stops to the tour."

There are nine stops on this year's tour.

All of the restaurants are Black-owned and offer a unique taste of Baltimore.

"All of these restaurants offer something unique," said Shelonda Stokes, President of Downtown Partnership of Baltimore. "And at each one you're going to get something different, whether it's a special or a meal or something curated specifically for this. It's going to be exciting."

Organizers, athletes, spectators and visitors alike felt the love during last year's tournament and this year won't be any different.

"We know that with these types of events, once you have success with one, others start to look at your city," Mosby said. Last year, we estimated $9.7 million in economic impact with this tournament. That was coming out of covid. The expectation is that we are going to get more this year."