KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Big 12 has awarded its football championship game to Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, for 2011, 2012 and 2013, and its men's basketball tournament to the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo., for 2012, 2013 and 2014.
That means the football title game and the men's tournament will have been at those same sites for five consecutive seasons.
But Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe said Friday that doesn't mean the league is anchoring its sites.
“We've extended them,” he said. “There's going to be a concerted effort at all of these to get a base fan group that will come to games no matter who is there.”
Beebe noted that the Southeastern Conference has established a ticket base of 30,000 to 40,000 fans by anchoring its football game in Atlanta.
“That's somewhat of a benefit,” he said. “And Cowboys Stadium is the world-class facility in our part of the country. No matter what part of our region it would exist in, we would have to look carefully at using it as often as we could.”
Normally, a bid process is used to determine the sites.
This time, the Big 12 board of directors issued Beebe the authority to negotiate with Arlington (the Jerry Jones family) and Kansas City.
“We negotiated a very favorable contract with the Jones family and the Cowboys last year for our championship game that produced more revenue,” Beebe said. “Based upon that and ... having a base site where a lot of folks will come annually is primary.”
Conference realignment could force the Big 12 to revisit Kansas City's status.
Should Missouri go to the Big Ten, the Big 12 likely wouldn't want to host a title event in a state in which it no longer resides.
Beebe said Kansas City might be granted different consideration because of its “close connection to Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State and Nebraska.”
The Big 12 women's basketball tournament will run at the same time and site with the men in Kansas City in 2012 and 2013. Then change could come.
Moving to a different city for 2014 has been proposed.
“There are a lot of positives for the women's tournament to be connected to the men,” Beebe said. “But there are other things to fully explore and to see if there is a passionate community that's going to come out for women's basketball regardless.”
Other Big 12 title sites granted were Oklahoma City for baseball in 2012, 2013 and 2014, and San Antonio for soccer in 2011 and 2012.
Contact the writer:
444-1024, lee.barfknecht@owh.com
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