The Missouri Valley Conference's men's basketball tournament will "remain in St. Louis" through at least '18 after signing a three-year extension with Scottrade Center, according to Cameron Hollway of the ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH. The agreement comes with "option years the MVC can exercise" for '19 and '20. The tournament, which has become known as "Arch Madness," will "celebrate its 25th consecutive year in St. Louis" in '15. MVC Commissioner Doug Elgin yesterday said that in addition to St. Louis, the conference sent RFPs in April "to Kansas City, Chicago, Indianapolis and Las Vegas." Chicago and K.C. emerged with St. Louis "as finalists and were submitted to the MVC Presidents Council for vote." St. Louis "was the unanimous choice" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 7/10). In Missouri, Lyndal Scranton notes K.C. "seemed a particularly intriguing possibility, with the 7-year-old Sprint Center in downtown." But Missouri State AD Kyle Moats said, "I was disappointed in Kansas City's proposal. A lot of people, myself included, were very open to going to Kansas City. But their bid simply was not on par with St. Louis." The tournament by staying in St. Louis will "surpass the Big 8/12 Tournament in Kansas City (26 seasons) as second-longest-running tourney at one neutral site" (Springfield NEWS-LEADER, 7/10). Elgin said, "When we looked at totality of bids, St. Louis was a clear winner from a financial standpoint. ... Geography did play into it a little bit, as always, but I think because we have a lot of history here that people took it into consideration" (WICHITA EAGLE, 7/10).
