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StumblePublished Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2008 | 12:29 p.m.
Updated Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2008 | 10:15 a.m.
The Mountain West Conference on Wednesday announced its five finalist cities to host the MWC Basketball Championships from 2011 to 2013.
That quintet is the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, The Pit in Albuquerque, Pepsi Center in Denver, Cox Arena in San Diego and Energy Solutions Arena in Salt Lake City.
Those cities move forward in the Request For Proposal process. A final decision is expected in June.
Sixteen cities, featuring 27 different facilities, received the initial RFP in July. Final proposals and bid specs are due in February. After each is analyzed, the MWC subcommittee will review the proposals and make a recommendation for the MWC Joint Council in Phoenix in May.
The Joint Council decision will be forwarded to the MWC Board of Directors for final approval during in June. It is anticipated an announcement will be made at the completion of that Board of Directors meetings.
The tournament site is an ongoing point of contention among the league's coaches. It was held at the Mack from 1999-2003, moved to Denver from 2004-06 and returned to the Mack the past two seasons. UNLV won the men's tournaments on its home floor in 2007 and 2008, but the Mack is pitched as a neutral site for the event.
A lot of the motivation for the move back to Las Vegas from Denver appeared to be attendance-based. In Denver in 2006, the average attendance was 7,489, while it was 13,483 in Thomas & Mack last year.
At last week's conference media day in Las Vegas, Rebels coach Lon Kruger called Las Vegas "clearly" the best place to host the tournament.
"If we want to be a big-time conference, then we need a big-time atmosphere at our showcase event," he said. "We've had that the last couple of years. I also understand, as an opposing coach, you don't like coming into someone's home arena. I guess that's why there'll be another vote soon as to what happens with the conference tournament."
The squeakiest of all wheels regarding the tournament site issue has been Steve Alford, now entering his second season at New Mexico.
"We're not football," Alford said last week. "Football, you can go 6-6, and they call you bowl eligible, so it's been a successful year. You're 6-6 in basketball, you're getting fired; that's the bottom line.
"You've got 340 schools competing for 65 spots (in the NCAA Tournament), so if you really want fairness in a competitive nature, you have to have a neutral site and obviously in our league right now we don't have that."
Of the five proposed sites, only two of them are not home floors for a Mountain West school; the Pepsi Center and Energy Solutions Arena. Of course, Energy Solutions is just a few miles down the road from the University of Utah.
With the controversy being over "fairness" and "neutrality," I can't see it going to another host school. If it's going to be a home court, it should be the obvious best ($) choice for a home court--The Mack. Otherwise, it needs to be a "neutral" court, and Denver is NOT an option. So I'm saying Vegas or SLC.
SLC and see bunch of BYU and Utah fans dont think so. Just put it in Vegas again or SD both tourist attractions that way itll be worth it.
Of the five choices: The Mack is obviously my first pick but if it's not at the Mack, San Diego is definitely my second choice.
Why would Albuquerque and Denver be an option but not Phoenix? Doesn't make sense other than to appease the complaint makers.
SLC would definitely be overwhelmingly pro-BYU/Utah, but there are enough fans of those teams to sell a lot of tickets, and it is technically a neutral floor, so it will get strong consideration (though it would be lame).
As for Phoenix, I'm sure they received a RFP, and probably weren't interested.
Denver was a disaster and ABQ is a joke (though it would be a comical situation what with Alford's comments)
lets get a real commish who understands the need for the conference tourney to make money. who wants to go to SLC or denver in march? The cox arena holds 8000 and albequerque is a horrible place to spend more than a day in. Money will be made in vegas, no AD will complain about that
sorry, cox arena holds 12000, but they never see that for basketball so i got confused
I don't get how SDSU and NM's home floors can even be finalists. The ONLY reason to move the tournament right now is because of perceived unfairness. Moving the location from one team's home floor to another team's home floor does nothing to improve the situation. If anything, it potentially worsens the situation because you'd be moving from a proven money making location to an unproven one (Denver anyone?).
Speaking of Denver, that was a flat out failure in terms of attendance. If attendance is important (which it should be in terms of making money for the Conference), then Denver should not be considered for another stint.
That leaves remaining with the status quo, i.e., keeping the tourney in the T&M or moving to SLC. No doubt that SLC would do well in terms of attendance with two teams in very close proximity. Also, it not being too far from Vegas, and UNLV looking to be good, I'm sure UNLV fans would travel fairly well. However, wouldn't it be a clear advantage to Utah and BYU, even though it wouldn't be on their "home court?" Maybe there could be a rotation between SLC and Vegas (hopefully we'll get that arena in Vegas to have another "neutral" floor in a city that would make money. I'm sure Alford will whine no matter what though. Remember, he lost to UTAH last year despite being the favored team on a NEUTRAL court, yet he still cries.
I'm just suprised BYU didnt recommend a military base so they can get the proper protection that they feel they need for the championship game. I wonder how many times they were told Auschwitz was not an option.
I just hope the main focus is money. The whole "home court advantage" thing isnt going to matter anyway, the way UNLV has been recruiting. Heck, they can schedule each of UNLV's tournament games on the home court of the opposing team. UNLV will win because UNLV is the better team.
I don't want to go to Salt Lake. The history channel just did a piece on Samoan Crips all over Salt lake City, Utah. We wear RED!!! Not a good place to be. lol.
Looks like we're staying home through 2012!
Expect that it will move to SLC. If you haven't already noticed, BYU ALWAYS GETS IT WAY! Tom Holmoe's big whiney mouth assures that they do.
This lst of finalists is such a joke.
Like many have said. The only reason to move it is to eliminate the 'unfair' home court advantage. So you're just going to GIVE IT TO ANOTHER SCHOOL!?!?!?!?
There were over 16K at the final the last two years at UNLV and cox in SD seats 12K. Maybe they're hoping that by changing the venue, demand won't be as high (shaking head). SD would be fun to visit, but the MWC tournament is bigger than that venue (and that's a good thing).
Abq. is rediculous. That's just lip service for noisy little stevie. If it did go there and the lobos lost in the first round (like they've done the last TWO years) attendance would be horrible. Alford needs to quit crying until he actually makes it far enough to get spanked by UNLV on their home court. He lost on a neutral court.
How dumb would our conference look to just move it back to Denver after it already failed there. Are you kidding me? That's just plain crazy. Our conference officials would be a laughing stock.
While it is very obvious to any reasonable person that it should stay in Vegas, I'm guessing that Tom Holmoe and his Utah buddies will get it moved to SLC. I hope I'm wrong. But at least attendance will be good in SLC as long as one of the Utah schools does well.
SLC and Vegas is the real list.
Ugh. I don't want to go to Utah in March instead of Vegas. Can't they just leave a good thing alone?
In other words, the tournament will be in SLC after the T&M contract is up. That ought to be fun, scheduling the tournament around the Utah Jazz schedule.
Anyway, its not a bad location, and more central than Denver. They even sell 3.2% beer at the arena for those that need their beverage to watch a game...however, Red Bull will give you more of a buzz...but hey, at least its not like BYU's campus where you can't even get a coke.
Which of these stadiums supports the biggest security wall around the court?? We might want to take a serious look at holding it there, whichever one it is.
Folks, when all is said and done, this will be a huge wasted of time and money. This is being done, I believe, to appease certain loudmouths in the hierarchy. When it comes down to the voting by the brass, they will heed the wishes of their ad's and fans, and my bet is it stays right here in Las Vegas.
Low 80s and restaurants and entertainment and, oh yeah, a little double-down or rollin' the bones or Texas Hold 'em... No city is this much fun, which Thompson will once again find out.