The Big 12 Tournament will be played at Sprint Center through '16, and conference Commissioner Bob Bowlsby on Wednesday said that discussions "about future tournaments will be held this week," according to Blair Kerkhoff of the K.C. STAR. Bowlsby said that the conversation "would be about the process." The event and other conference postseason tournaments were previously "awarded to locations," including K.C. However, sites going forward "might be selected through a bidding process." Bowlsby: "Going through a RFP or a bidding process every once in a while isn’t bad idea. We don’t know exactly what the process will be, but Kansas City is definitely in our future" (K.C. STAR, 3/14). Meanwhile, in Des Moines, Randy Peterson reports Iowa State was allotted around 1,500 tickets for its Big 12 Tournament quarterfinal game against Kansas State Thursday, but at least 3,200 people "wanted to order tickets through the university." ISU AD Jamie Pollard "checked in with his AD buddies around the league, to see if anyone had tickets" (DES MOINES REGISTER, 3/14).
AAC TO ROAM: In Connecticut, Kevin Duffy reported it "seems as though the AAC tournament will return" to FedExForum in '15 and "then move elsewhere." AAC Commissioner Mike Aresco said, "We really didn't think about being (in Memphis) more than two years because we'd like to move it around. We need to plant the flag in various places. I think we want to go to the three or four corners of our conference. Maybe Cincinnati down the road, they've expressed interest. XL (in Hartford) ought to have it at some point down the road. Orlando has been a strong bidder" (CONNECTICUT POST, 3/13).
NOT SO BIG EAST? In N.Y., Harvey Araton reports the crowd Thursday night at MSG for the Big East Tournament "was announced at 14,925," far less than a sellout at the arena. The conference "could have used a semifinal showdown between Seton Hall and St. John’s." It also "could have tasted" more N.Y. metropolitan area "flavoring while trying to move on without the departed powerhouses that helped fill the Garden this time of year." The "determination of some Big East members to move on from Big Brother Football -- to align with Butler, Creighton and Xavier -- was widely admired and applauded." But from "a New York state of mind, the tournament feels inescapably slimmed down, less substantial" (N.Y. TIMES, 3/14).
