At a press conference Monday morning, the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) and the City of Rock Hill (S.C.) announced a three-year agreement to bring the conference basketball and volleyball championships to the brand new Rock Hill Sports and Events Center. The volleyball championship will run from November 18-20 with the men's and women's basketball tournament scheduled for March 2-7, 2020.

“We just like the whole turnkey approach of having an event that can really grow into becoming a community event,” SIAC Commissioner Greg Moore said.

This won't be the SIAC's first visit to York County, South Carolina located 31 miles south of Charlotte. Winthrop University hosted the SIAC cross country championship last Fall and track and field championship in April, 2019.

Rock Hill and current host Birmingham, Ala. were finalists for the three championships. Rock Hill officials used their experience from hosing SIAC championships at Winthrop to sell the conference on their ability to host with the new sports and event center, scheduled for completion in October. The new center will have a 1,200-seat championship court along with a 700-seat main court and 8,000 square foot of multipurpose event space.

Benedict College, the only conference member in the state, will serve as host institution.

“The track record here in Rock Hill, the facilities and the championships, we’ve had some outstanding championships here,” said Benedict athletics director Willie Washington. “Track and field, cross country, I’ve had the opportunity to come up to visit those. And we expect to have outstanding championships in volleyball and basketball.”

“We felt that the facility was well thought out in terms of its proximity to hotels, restaurants,” Moore said. “It’s the right size facility.”