Will the Mountain West Conference move its hoops tourney out of the Thomas & Mack?

My last blog enticed some comments on how the MWC basketball tournament is a “joke” as long as it’s played at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center each year, giving the Rebels a slight home-court advantage for the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The conference has a four-year contract with the Thomas & Mack that has one year remaining.
Recently, Dick Harmon and I were talking with BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe about what happened at conference meetings held last month in Las Vegas, and the subject of moving the basketball tournament around to different or neutral locations came up. Many feel there’s substantial support to end the Vegas situation, but evidently not as much as some might think. Holmoe said it was pretty even split among officials from the conference’s schools on whether the tournament should remain in Vegas, or be held at other locations. Utah coach Jim Boylen was quoted in an article this week in the Las Vegas Review Journal as saying the tournament should stay in Vegas, that it’s the “best place” for it. I know BYU coach Dave Rose doesn’t feel that way, and favors a neutral location.
From what I understand, the college presidents are going to make a decision on the matter sometime this summer, but I think it’s far from a slam-dunk that it’s leaving Las Vegas.