Big 12 women’s basketball tournament to move to Dallas in 2013, Oklahoma City in 2014

The Big 12 announced plans for future host sites for the conference’s basketball championships today. After this season the men’s and women’s basketball championships will become stand-alone events, taking place in different cities. The men’s championship stays in Kansas City through 2014. The women’s championship will be held in Dallas at the American Airlines Center in 2013 and Oklahoma City in 2014 at the Chesapeake Energy Center. The women’s basketball championship will take place the Friday-Monday preceding the men’s championship and continue its Wednesday-Saturday format.

“Our woman’s basketball coaches and student-athletes will have the opportunity to showcase the sport’s premiere Conference championship in state-of-the-art arenas that our home to NBA teams,” said interim commissioner Chuck Neinas. “I would like to thank the Kansas City Sports Commission for accommodating our desire to separate the men’s and women’s basketball championships. Kansas City continues to be a valuable partner of the Big 12.”

The women’s tournament returns to Dallas for the first time since 2006. The now-demolished Reunion Arena hosted the championship in 2003, 2004 and 2006. In 2011, American Airlines Center and the Big 12 Conference hosted the 2011 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Regional. Those games had 21,030 spectators total for both sessions, including 11,508 at the final between Baylor and Texas A&M. The arena is home to the 2011 NBA champion Dallas Mavericks.

Oklahoma City is set to host the women’s basketball championship for the first time in Chesapeake Energy Arena after the 2007 and 2009 Championships were played in Cox Convention Center. The facility is the home to the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Big 12’s athletics directors approved the sites and the decisions require final approval from the conference’s board of directors.

Future Sites
2013 Women’s Basketball – American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas
2014 Women’s Basketball – Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City, Okla.