CIAA Links Up with MySpace to Publicize Tournament

The CIAA athletic conference is now turning to the popular Web site MySpace.com to get word out about their basketball tournament.

The CIAA is one of the most popular brands around the Southeast, with basketball fans clamoring for tickets to this event as early as December. But even with all that hype, the conference is always looking for ways to get even bigger.

“In order to be successful, you got to think out of the box,” said CIAA commissioner Leon Kerry. “We've been inventive. And we've been able to find different things, add different things. It really becomes competitive.”

In order to keep that competitive edge, for the first time the conference has tapping into the social networking aspect of MySpace.

“It’s the going thing,” said CIAA fan Keisha Hill. “I mean, who doesn't have a MySpace account? They should.”

The site offers a blog, along with information about the tournament and party pictures from CIAA events. It's information that’s powered by CIAA fans.

“Millions of kids around the world have a MySpace, and it's a very positive thing for the CIAA,” said high school student Daniel Griffith.

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Griffith is the face of a new generation of fans that the CIAA is reaching by linking up with MySpace.

“If you want information, people on MySpace, they can send it to their friends and they can send it to their friends, you can post bulletins. It'll spread the word,” said high school student Deanna Sommerville.

According to the conference, an estimated 55 percent of people who attend the tournament didn't go to one of CIAA schools. Now with MySpace on board, that number could grow.

“More people, more people, more sponsors,” Sommerville said. “Then we'll beat the NCAA.”