A record number of people attended the CIAA basketball tournament last month in Charlotte, according to official estimates.

In figures released Monday, the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority said attendance at official CIAA events topped 190,000 and pumped $44.3 million into the local economy. That was a 19 percent increase from the previous year, and both numbers marked new records for the tournament.

Taxpayers spent more than $500,000 to host the weeklong event. Mecklenburg County and the city of Charlotte each paid $200,000 and the state paid roughly $166,000 into a CIAA scholarship fund.

The tournament has called Charlotte home since 2006, and CIAA Commissioner Leon Kerry has said he’d like to see the city become a permanent host.

Some economists, meanwhile, say the CRVA’s economic impact figures are inflated because they fail to account for lost spending from people who left town because of the event or spending that would have occurred anyway.

The CIAA will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2012, with next year’s tournament scheduled for Feb. 27-March 3.

Check out our special CIAA page or coverage you may have missed.

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