New site for MWC basketball tournament?
The Mountain West Conference just announced five finalist cities to host the 2011-2013 basketball tournament — Albuquerque, Denver, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and San Diego.
Which site would you prefer?
Here’s the press release sent out by the MWC:
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The Mountain West Conference future basketball championships site subcommittee has announced finalist cities to host the 2011-13 Mountain West Conference Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships. The five finalists are Albuquerque, Denver, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and San Diego. These cities will be moved forward in the Request for Proposal (RFP) process with an expected awarding of the future site to take place in June 2009. Denver (2004-06) and Las Vegas (1999-2003, 2008-10) have previously hosted the MWC Basketball Championships.
‘The Mountain West Conference Basketball Championships is a signature event that highlights our student-athletes,’ said Craig Thompson, MWC Commissioner. ‘We are pleased with all of the cities that showed interest in this event and the subcommittee is eager to begin reviewing the proposals from each finalist and move forward in the selection process.’
Sixteen cities, featuring twenty-seven different facilities, received the initial RFP on July 15, 2008. Final proposals and bid specs will be due in February 2009. After a thorough analysis and breakdown of each proposal, the Mountain West Conference subcommittee will convene to review the proposals and make a recommendation for the MWC Joint Council to review during its meeting in Phoenix in May 2009. The Joint Council decision will be forwarded to the Mountain West Conference Board of Directors for final approval during its June 2009 meeting. It is anticipated an announcement will be made at the completion of the Board of Directors meetings.
The finalist cities named and potential host facilities are:
City, State Facility
Albuquerque, New Mexico The Pit
Denver, Colorado Pepsi Center
Las Vegas, Nevada Thomas & Mack Center
Salt Lake City, Utah Energy Solutions Arena or E Center
San Diego, California Cox Arena