Don’t expect MWC tourney back in Denver

Friday, July 29, 2005 | 9:41 a.m.

No league or school official will comment, for the record, about the first round of unofficial talks that could lead the Mountain West Conference to move its annual basketball tournament out of Denver.

For the third and final year of its current contract, the league will hold its tournament at the Pepsi Center next spring.

After that, look for Cox Pavilion in San Diego or the Thomas & Mack Center here to rank high on the MWChierarchy's list of sun-splashed alternate choices for the tournament.

The above, though, is our opinion. Nobody of note will speculate about how these discussions will proceed.

What is known is that the topic will likely have a high priority in October, when the Joint Council meets in Denver.

That council, comprised of athletic directors, senior women administrators and faculty representatives from each school, and seven senior MWC staff members, convenes semi-annually.

From there, look for the school presidents to debate the matter during their annual gathering in late May or early June.

The nine MWC coaches convened in Vegas last week to begin a stretch of recruiting at the many summer tournaments around town, which enabled them to meet last Thursday to talk about the postseason tournament beyond 2006.

Other topics were supposedly addressed, but one coach, who requested anonymity, said conversation about the tournament's future was very generic.

Feedback from those coaches likely will be forwarded to their athletic directors in a leisurely manner. That way, according to a league source, athletic directors and presidents won't be blindsided by public coaches comments that haven't been endorsed by the executives.

"It would be a conflict of interest for coaches to speak publicly without talking with athletic directors," said the source.

Until that joint council meeting in October, the topic will move through internal -- and private -- channels.

"There really has been no movement on which way we'll go," said the league source. "Discussions have come up because (2005-06) is the last year (contractually) in Denver. Everyone has his own opinions and suggestions. Where it will end up, I couldn't tell you. I wish I could, but I couldn't begin to tell where it will or won't be."

In 2002 and '03, the tournament drew 53,682 and 53,980 fans, respectively, at the Mack. In '04 and '05, respectively, 33,288 and 35,895 fans attended the games at the Pepsi Center.

In '02 and '03, the average attendance to each of the four sessions was more than 13,400. In '04 and '05, that figure was less than 9,000.