EVENT IMPACTFCS championshipgame (1997-2009) $22.97 millionSEC women’s basketballtourney (1993-97, 1999-00) $10.91 millionSouthern Conferencebasketball tourney 2 (2005, ’09) $2.05 millionNCAA women’s basketballtourney (2004-05, ’09) $1.32 millionSource: Greater Chattanooga Sports & Events Committee
Chattanooga once created a sporting monster so sizable it infuriated the commissioner of the Southeastern Conference.
Twelve years ago today, more than 12,000 spectators descended on the SEC women’s basketball tournament semifinals at McKenzie Arena, a facility that seats 11,218. The league kingpin at that time, Roy Kramer, was not among the hundreds who were turned away, but he did join the many who didn’t get to their seats on time.
“Commissioner Kramer got caught in the traffic jam,” said Leroy Fanning, who led Chattanooga’s efforts to land the SEC event. “We told him not to come a certain way, and he decided to anyway. He was livid. He came storming in, and everybody else was on such a high because we knew we had sold it out and that our tournament had gridlocked the city.”
Notable college basketball and football events have been held in Chattanooga for nearly two decades and have injected an estimated $37.25 million into the local economy, but there is nothing on the schedule after this week’s Southern Conference men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.