During a Thursday press conference last week, the Big 12 announced that Kansas City and the Sprint Center will keep the Men’s Basketball Conference Championship through the 2020 season.

Over the past two seasons, Sprint Center has averaged 18,000 in attendance for each session over the course of the four-day event.

With the Power & Light district across the street, the College Basketball Experience attached to the arena, and a tremendous entertainment district built with enough space to contain thousands of fans throughout the day, Kansas City was the easy and logical choice.

Oklahoma City and Dallas also made bids for the tournament, but due to the stellar attendance and already known accommodations in KC, it made sense to keep it where it is.

For Kansas, the decision is a perfect one because of the location and easy access to thousands of fans both in Lawrence and in Kansas City.

Another fanbase which is thrilled with the decision is Iowa State, also due to the easy access to Kansas City. One could argue that Iowa State has been the most supportive fanbase over the past several years.

In each of the next four years, the tournament is expected to add an additional $9 million to the local economy, according to the Kansas City Sports Commission.

With programs such as Iowa State, Texas, Kansas State, and obviously Kansas, the tournament has provided entertaining basketball recently, and despite Iowa State losing head coach Fred Hoiberg to the Chicago Bulls, the Cyclones are returning a plethora of talent, and most believe the Jayhawks and Clones will be the two favorites for the Big 12 title in the 2015-16 season.

Leading up to last Thursday’s announcement, most were hoping Kansas City would get at least two of the four years, but bracing for the potential for just one.  The other bidding cities were unknown, but rumor had Des Moines and Tulsa as possible suitors to host the event.

In the end, KC swept 4-0 for the bids and the city couldn’t have asked for a better result.

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