Home, sweet home

By By Jack Weinstein (Contact)

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

The Big 12 Conference basketball tournaments will return to Kansas City, Mo., in 2008 after a two-year layoff. Last year’s tournament was in Dallas and this season’s tournament will be in Oklahoma City.

Kansas City was the permanent home for the Big 8 Conference tournaments before it expanded to the Big 12 after the 1996 season. It was the host for the first six Big 12 tournaments.

Many in Kansas City and Lawrence are pleased to see the tournament return to the area. Kansas City Mayor Kay Barnes is among the supporters.

“I’m very excited about the Big 12 tournament returning to Kansas City in 2008,” Barnes said by phone from her office in Kansas City. “It’s going to be great to have the women and men playing at wonderful arenas within easy walking distance from one another with a great entertainment district in between. It’s going to be a terrific Big 12 festival.”

Jim Marchiony, Kansas associate athletics director, said the athletics department is delighted the tournaments are returning to Kansas City. He also said the department thought that Kansas City should be the permanent home for the conference tournament.

“I think if you polled the coaches in the league, they would tell you the same,” Marchiony said. “Kansas City is a terrific site for the Big 12, The fan support is great, the city really gets behind the tournament. Dallas was a good host city, but there wasn’t as much fan support.”

Bob Burda, associate Big 12 conference commissioner, echoed similar sentiments to Marchiony’s.

“Dallas is a pro-sports market,” Burda said. “There’s no rich history of hosting collegiate athletic events. Kansas City has a rich tradition of hosting big time college events.”

Burda said making Kansas City the permanent home for the Big 12 tournament was a possibility. The conference will take a wait-and-see attitude until after the tournament to gauge how the new Sprint Center holds the event. Conference athletics directors and university presidents would then vote on whether to make Kansas City the permanent location.

The tournament can economically benefit the city in which it’s held, because of revenue produced in hotels and restaurants by people from areas outside of Kansas City. A spokesperson from the mayor’s office said he thought that the tournament made a $15 million impact on the local economy.

The men’s tournament will be held at the Sprint Center, scheduled to open in October 2007. The women will play at Municipal Auditorium.

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