Big 12 hoops will return to OKC in 2009
Big 12 hoops will return to OKC in 2009
by George Schroeder
Staff Writer
Ever since they left town last March, Big 12 insiders had been whispering, "We'll be back,” to anyone involved with the recent Big 12 basketball tournaments.
"What we heard,” Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett said, "was there's no way they could not come back with the success we had.”
Thursday, the league made good, awarding its men's and women's tournaments to Oklahoma City in 2009.
"They came back as quick as they could,” Cornett said.
Kansas City gets 3
The Big 12 accepted bids for a five-year period, but opted to delay awarding sites for 2012 and 2013. Kansas City, Mo., which was already set to host the 2008 tournaments, will host in 2010 and 2011.
The Big 12 also announced football sites through 2010 , and the choices might have affected the basketball tournaments.
Kansas City will host the 2008 Big 12 football championship. Arlington, Texas, home of the new Dallas Cowboys' stadium, will host in 2009 and 2010. With San Antonio already set to host in 2007, the Big 12 football championship will tilt southward for three of the next four years.
That might have affected the northern lean toward Kansas City, the longtime home of the Big Eight and Big 12 basketball tournaments.
Including the already-awarded 2008 tournaments, Kansas City will host the basketball tournaments in three of the next four years. And it will do so with a new arena, the Sprint Center, which is scheduled to be completed in time for next year's tournaments.
Nebraska chancellor Harvey Perlman, chairman of the Big 12's board of directors, said the conference was not leaning toward "anchoring our championships in particular cities. The board continues to be supportive of rotating these championships.”
But Tim Brassfield, executive director of Oklahoma City's All Sports Association, said he wasn't disappointed to be awarded just one year.
Other cities submitting bids for the basketball tournaments included Dallas, Tulsa and Omaha, Neb. But Oklahoma City's successful debut last March might have pushed it ahead of others, including Dallas (which has twice hosted the tournaments).
"When you consider five cities submitted bids and we're one of two, I think we can be very pleased,” Brassfield said. "We'll hope we get it back in 2012.”
Women set records
The proximity of the arenas — the Ford Center and the Cox Center are separated by Reno Avenue — was a factor in Oklahoma City's success. Attendance at the women's tournament, played at the Cox Center, set records. And intangibles apparently left an impression, as well.
"I know from visiting with my fellow presidents and other Big 12 officials that the decision today is a tribute to the outstanding performance of Oklahoma City,” OU President David Boren said.
Brassfield said Oklahoma City's bid was "very aggressive” and "escalated” beyond its successful bid for the 2007 tournaments. He declined to give details. But the city bid for all five years, with particular emphasis on 2009, 2011 and 2013.
In 2010, when Oklahoma City will host the first and second rounds of the NCAA men's basketball tournament, Brassfield said organizers didn't want to host the conference tournaments the preceding week.
Cornett estimated the economic impact of the tournaments last March at $40 million.
But he said the intangibles benefited Oklahoma City, as well.
"What you get on the side, with things like the (Oklahoma City) name on the court and all the national attention, is a bonus that can't be tabulated,” Cornett said.
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