SWAC Basketball Tournaments moving to Dallas Area

Birmingham, AL - The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Council of Presidents and Chancellors voted Tuesday to approve the bid submitted to the league office by The Special Events Center in Garland, Texas to host the SWAC Men's and Women's Basketball Tournament Championships in 2011, 2012, and 2013. The 2011 SWAC Basketball Tournament will be played March 9-12 at the 7,500-seat Special Events Center. The conference office requested bids from as many as 15 cities within the league's five-state footprint.

"We look forward to working with the Special Events Center in Garland over the next three years to develop the SWAC Basketball Tournament into more than just a basketball tournament, but a total entertainment and destination event," SWAC Commissioner Duer Sharp said. "The league is thankful to the cities that submitted bids and optimistic about the growing relationship between the league office and the Special Events Center, the Garland Independent School District, the city of Garland, and surrounding cities."

The Dallas metropolitan area is second only to Atlanta in the number of living SWAC alumni, and it is the fifth-largest media market in the United States. Bids from 15 cities from Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas were requested by the SWAC. The tournament is moving from Bossier City, Louisiana, who also submitted a bid, but did not offer the SWAC a free venue or a reduced-cost venue and hotel rooms that the conference was seeking.