Colonial Athletic Association Commissioner Tom Yeager on Thursday stressed that the conference's men's basketball tournament at Baltimore's Royal Farms Arena "will tell both the league and the city a lot about the viability of a contract extension" beyond '16, according to Jon Meoli of the Baltimore SUN. Yeager said that the tournament, which began a three-year contract in Baltimore in '14, "has plenty to build on from last year, and talks will 'heat up significantly once … we have two years of performance to look at.'" Yeager: "We're looking at it as a very important year, that we want to demonstrate to Baltimore that this is an event that's worthy of their time and effort, and vice versa. We want to make it work, but it also has to work for Baltimore, the hotels and restaurants, to help to support the city's efforts. Obviously, we'd love to extend here in Baltimore, and hopefully (this year's tournament is) a great success, as we anticipate it to be." He added that discussions about a new deal between the CAA and Visit Baltimore, the city's marketing organization, "began in the fall." Ticket sales for this year's tournament "have been on the same pace as last year's, which brought a four-day total of 19,065 fans to the arena." Yeager: "We've had a little better pickup on the business side, corporate. We've had a little better pickup from our schools as far as buying the ticket blocks" (Baltimore SUN, 2/27).
