ELMHURST, Ill. - The Summit League will head to Sioux Falls, S.D., and the Sioux Falls Arena for its men's and women's basketball championships in 2009 and 2010 Commissioner Tom Douple announced today.
"We are very excited about having our basketball tournament in Sioux Falls," Douple said. "It will be great for the city and the region, and we anticipate tremendous support from the community. We are especially looking forward to bringing March Madness to the state of South Dakota."
The Summit League president's council voted Monday to move the league's top event to the largest city in South Dakota.
Built in 1961, the Sioux Falls Arena is a 7,100-seat facility.
The Summit League Basketball Championships feature the top eight men's and women's teams in the conference, with the winners receiving automatics bids in their respective NCAA tournaments. The championship games are televised nationally on the ESPN family of networks. The men's championship game has appeared on ESPN or ESPN2 each of the last 14 years, while the women's title game has appeared on ESPNU each of the last two seasons.
The Summit League is comprised of 10 member institutions Centenary (La.) College, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW), Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), North Dakota State University, Oakland (Mich.) University, Oral Roberts (Okla.) University, South Dakota State University, Southern Utah University and Western Illinois University.
