May 7, 2019

He cut his teeth on executing the details of the CIAA tournament. Derek Webber went on to create a Battle of the Bands that after five years had outgrown Charlotte’s Memorial Stadium. Webber Tuesday recounted his side of unsuccessful efforts to move the showcase for HBCU marching banks from Memorial to Panthers Stadium. While the details of the divorce are bound to be disputed for years, the reality is not: Webber’s Battle of the Bands plays the much-larger NRG Stadium in Houston on Sept. 1 for a three-year run.

For some Forum participants, the storyline sounded familiar: An event that draws a mostly African-American audience grows and grows until it finds itself unwelcome in the Queen City. City Council member James Mitchell told a somewhat similar story about the departure of the CIAA tournament when he addressed the Forum in January.

Dedrick Russell’s report for WBTV on Webber is here.

In the video below, presentations begin at minute 6:01. The Q&A begins at minute 34:10.