Bowlsby Speaks on Big 12 Championship Future

During the break between semifinal games on the Big 12 Network tonight, Studio 66 hosts Doug Bell and Brynden Manzer interviewed Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby about various topics, closing with the future of the Big 12 Championship.

Bowlsby seems fairly committed to the Sprint Center, even with the contract expiring following the 2016 tournament. Asked what the "future holds" for the tournament in Kansas City, Bowlsby responded, "I think it holds for a lot for a lot of years in Kansas City. We will likely ... request proposals, just because I think that's good business, and I think actually people in Kansas City believe that as well."

Bowlsby's words don't necessarily carry the same connotation as his tone; the tenor of the comment was that the proposals would mostly be a formality unless one of those proposals really knocked the ball out of the park, to mix sports metaphors.

Bowlsby went on to note that the future of the women's championship is also under consideration, including the possibility of either moving both tournaments to the same weekend at different sites, or the same site on different dates. "We are very pleased with Kansas City," he continued. "This atmosphere is unbelievable. I think everyone wondered how it was going to go when Missouri wasn't contributing to the ticket sales, but we've had two hard sellouts the last two years, and the environment could not be any better. The hospitality is wonderful, and I expect that we're going to be in Kansas City for a long time."

Looks like the commissioner is fairly locked in to Kansas City as the tournament site, which is probably only fair considering that if we ever have a Big 12 Championship Game in football again, you can bet it's going to be at JerryWorld.