Big 12, Kansas City Extend Basketball Tournaments Through 2031
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark announced on Tuesday that the league has extended its contract to host the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments at the T-Mobile Center through 2031.
The announced puts to rest any concern that the conference’s signature basketball event might stray to a different location after an influx of new members this year and four new schools — Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah — set to join later this year.
Yormark was joined by Kansas City mayor Quinton Lucas for the announcement. Kathy Nelson, the president & CEO of Kansas City Sports Commission, and Raven Jemison, the president of Kansas City Current, also attended.
Yormark also announced that the Big 12 women’s soccer tournament will move to Kansas City in 2024 and 2025 and be played at the new home of the KC Current, CPKC Stadium.
Yormark said the decision was an effort to “double down” on the conference’s presence in Kansas City.
College basketball and Kansas City have been synonymous with each other going back to NCAA Tournaments hosted at Kemper Arena and NAIA Tournaments hosted at Municipal Auditorium. The Big 12 men’s tournament returned to Kansas City in 2010 and the women’s tournament moved back to Kansas City in 2021, but it was played in Municipal until this season.
The women’s tournament will continue to be played in T-Mobile as part of the contract.
The Big 12 already had an extension in place for the 2026 and 2027 tournaments. This new deal ensures both tournaments will be at T-Mobile Center into the next decade.
A deal like this has been a year in the making. Last year’s Big 12 tournaments was Yormark’s first as commissioner. At the time, he said he came away impressed with how Kansas City supported the tournament and liked that the events were “the only show in town.”
Back then, he said there were improvements that he hoped the city of Kansas City and T-Mobile would make in order to generate more revenue for the league and for the city. Last year the Big 12 created the Champions Club underneath the arena bowl for ticket-holders of courtside seats.
This year the Big 12 added new premium hospitality and seating options, 244 more premium seats and a new concourse level club for fans.
In October at Big 12 Media Days for basketball he told the media that his goal was to sign an extension with the city by tournament week. Heartland College Sports asked Yormark if his desire to get an extension done meant that Kansas City and T-Mobile were invested in the future improvements he wanted to make and he said “Yes.”
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
