Big 12 will keep men's basketball tournament in Kansas City for two more years

The Big 12 Conference is extending its deal with the Sprint Center to host its men's basketball tournament.
The two-year agreement takes the deal through the 2016 season. It also provides the Big 12 with the first right to championship dates after 2016.
Incoming Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said the Big 12 has deep roots in Kansas City, which has hosted the men’s basketball tournament for 11 of the past 16 years.
“We are very excited about hosting and featuring this tournament in the Kansas City area. The Sprint Center is a great venue,” Bowlsby said. “The history of the tournament and the league in this area is rich, and we’re very excited about extending and enhancing our relationship with Kansas City.”
Kansas State University President Kirk Schulz said the proximity of the Sprint Center to the Power & Light District makes Kansas City a great venue for the tournament. He said the extension is a testament to that and a recognition of the support the tournment gets in Kansas City.
Bernadette Gray-Little, chancellor of the University of Kansas, agreed.
“I claim Kansas City as a Big 12 city,” she said. “It’s a great place to have a tournament, and the city has rolled out the red carpet for us.”
The deal, which formerly went through the 2014 season, has been a big economic boost to Kansas City.
In March, Kansas City hosted men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments for two conferences and crowned a national champion, making it one of the busiest college basketball cities in the nation. The economic benefit was estimated at about $18 million.
The men’s Big 12 basketball tournament has sold out every year of the current contract, which started three years ago, attracting 18,000 visitors a day to Kansas City during the tournament
“This means a lot to our city, our sports fans and our local businesses,” said Kathy Nelson, president of the Greater Kansas City Sports Commission and Foundation. “We appreciate that the Big 12 recognizes Kansas city as a strong, vibrant and championship-level city with a long history of supporting major college sporting events, especially the Big 12 Conference.”
In November, the Big 12 announced that the women's basketball tournament would leave for Dallas after the 2013 season, though the men's would stay through 2014.
The future of Big 12 tournaments in Kansas City had been a topic of discussion after the University of Missouri announced that it would leave the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference in 2012.
“This has been a tumultuous time over the last 24 months for our conference, but I think the extension of this agreement, the settling of many of the issues that made things tumultuous, caused us to have a very bright outlook and an expectation that this will be one of our featured events on the annual schedule for many years to come,” Bowlsby said. “We are very excited to be making this extension, and we’re enthusiastic about remaining in Kansas City. We think this will once again be one of the premier sporting events in the country and one that will be greatly enhanced by its northern home in Kansas City.”
Kansas City Mayor Pro Tem Cindy Circo and Nelson both said the city has not discussed tournament hosting with the SEC or any other conference except the Big 12.