The 2012-14 Southern Conference men's and women's basketball tournaments will be played in Asheville, N.C., commissioner John Iamarino said Thursday.
Six cities bid for some or all of the tournaments, including Chattanooga, but the event is returning to Asheville, which most recently hosted the semifinals and finals of the 1995 tournaments. The bidding cities were Chattanooga, Asheville, Charleston, S.C., Greenville, S.C., Charlotte, N.C., and Winston-Salem, N.C.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga will host the 2011 tournaments at McKenzie Arena.
The 2012-14 tournaments will be played at the not-yet-completed Kimmel Arena on the UNC Asheville campus and the Asheville Civic Center, which is getting a $3.2 million facelift.
Greater Chattanooga Sports & Events Committee president Scott Smith said Wednesday that he thought Chattanooga submitted the largest bid. However, he said the SoCon would likely go elsewhere if it wanted to keep the event in one place for all three years.
For more, see tomorrow's Times Free Press.
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