It's all about the $$$, just like the moronic TV deal. Fair competition, comprehensive TV coverage and national exposure all go out the window in favor of making a few extra bucks. I'm sure Vegas is greasing the wheels to keep the tourney there...

Craig Thompson is to the MWC what Isiah Thomas was to the Knicks.

I don't know how they can move it to a non-MWC destination and not lose money on the deal. Still, giving Las Vegas home court advantage every year isn't fair to the rest of the league.

My suggestion? Move it to Reno or Phoenix. Having lived in Reno for awhile I know the tournament would be welcomed with open arms. Phoenix would also be a good choice. Both are easy to get to and offer a lot of amenities. The only place I wouldn't want to see the tournament go is California. Why? If BYU failed to make the tournament the Mountain West wouldn't draw very many locals. Nothing looks worse on TV than half empty arenas.

The first item of business should be to fire Craig Thompson. He has taken the MWC from an OK conference, to an irrelivant conference in the matter of a few years. This is mostly due to the disasterous tv deal. Does Mr. Thompson have no accountability?

Ah, heck, let's have it in St. George.

Yeah, it's a ridiculously stupid to hold it in an arena that only seats 5,000, but it's a warm climate--that's all the reason Craig Thompson needs. So crazy he might just do it.

Let's not forget about the hotel rooms that normally go for 60.00 - 100.00 a night mid-week, that were going for 175.00 - 300.00 per night. One thing about Vegas is, they want it all!

There needs to be more of a reward for winning the regular season than a first round bye. How about hosting the tournament?? Yeah, there are better places to be in March than Laramie or Ft. Collins, but it makes more sense than giving UNLV the home-court advantage every year.

Or, you could out a perverse spin on it and let the last-place team host the tournament. They'd need the home-court advantage even more. We'd be even more likely to end up in Ft. Collins, but we'd also have a better chance of ending up in San Diego.

I go to UNLV and all the UNLV fans say that the site doesn't matter, but they would be crying as loud if the tourney was at the Marriot center. The thing that upsets me the most is UNLV hasn't won an outright league title for a long time but they are rewarded every year by having the tourney on their home court.

Why don't these schools that try to preach fairness in their places of learning take a page from the dictionary and find out what fairness actually means. These people who are supposed to be so educated are making a lot of uneducated decisions that are ruining their school programs, except the one school that is benefitting from it. Wake up and smell the postum,and I am speaking of the two schools in the state of Utah. Yes, you are making rules and sign contracts that make the dollars, but you are not being FAIR to those students who you go out and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to recruit. Fairness is as fairness does. Good luck.

Anaheim is the best choice, for weather, attractions, and family-friendly venues. Disneyland across the street, Sea World 1.5 hours away, Magic Mountain 1 hour away, the beach 15 minutes away, Universal Studios 40 minutes away, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, you just can't find anywhere else in the west that offers so much for families within such a short distance. Oh and did I mention, a neutral court? Forget AZ, there's nothing to do there.

I don't know what it is going to take for MWC officials to see that having the tournament in Las Vegas is NOT working. Having UNLV get home court advantage with lunatic, out-of-control fans is an embarrasement to the league. OH WAIT ... the MWC is already an embarrasment....OK keep the tourney in Vegas baby!

What is wrong with holding the tournament in Anaheim at the Honda Center? There is entertainment value that is more family oriented and also fun for all ages. It's a neutral court and venue. And there is plenty of hotel options in that area. I mean... you must be a complete idiot to not hold the tournament there.

The tourney is a money maker for the conference, so it should be wherever the $$$ potential is greatest. Why have it in a city or stadium that will not maximize profits? If UNLV gains from that, so be it. We'll just have to be that much better to beat them.

I know this is irrational and probably not a real solution but, just get out of the MWC. The TV deal is a joke and now this basketball tourney. If BYU and either Utah or TCU threatened to leave I think a lot of things would change. Good luck to the MWC getting UNLV vs San Diego St on national TV. Bottom line is BYU, Utah, and TCU own this conference and if they got together some good things could happen.

The MWC needs to select 3-4 arenas that are near its fan centers and rotate the tournament around every year. Every student at a MWC school should have the chance for an easy road trip to the tournament at least once in a four-year cycle. My suggestions:
1: SLC / ESA (Close to BYU and Utah)
2: Denver/Pepsi Center (AF, CSU, Wyo)
3: Anaheim/Honda Center (UNLV, SDSU)
4: Dallas/AA Arena (TCU, UNM)
Get those four arenas on a regular rotation, and make everybody happy. Even though some arenas are still close to campus, nobody gets home-court more than once in four years.

Why not just do it the way the WAC used to do it: By giving home court advantage to the team that won the regular season championship. That gives importance to the regular season, and lowers the possibility of two league champions (which typically lowers the NCAA seeding for both champion teams).

I know it would make it harder for the MWC to sell tickets in advance, but I don't think that would necessarily translate into less tickets sold.

-If the championship is held in Salt Lake or Provo, you know that local fans will sell out games.

-If the tournament is held in San Diego, fans will show up for the warm weather and attractions.

-If its held in Las Vegas, then at least UNLV earned it.

-New Mexico is warm(er than the intermountain west), plus its a centralized location and everyone should attend a game in The Pit at least once in their life.

-Boulder CO is sort of centralized.

-Dallas would be a little far away but let's face it, TCU isn't going to win the MWC any time in the near future

-Laramie and Ft. Collins...okay, that would be a tough sell.

How difficult is this? This article makes it sound like these guys are trying to land a spaceship on Mars or create a new energy source. Come on. We're talking about trying to get a new venue for playing a basketball tournament.

The Thomas and Mack is a joke. For the past two years it has been a nightmare. I was there this year and it really was a disaster. The Vegas fans are hideous and the home court is ridiculous. It's amazing that it has taken these AD's, Conference Admins, etc this long to figure it out. Wow. Good thing they don't have real jobs that are driven by results and profits.

Get on the phone, make a few calls, and get it on the schedule. Phoenix seems to make the most sense - big city, warm climate for Craig and his golfing buddies, plenty to do, easy to get to, etc. If not, then how about S. Cal. Given the criteria that is outlined those are the only choices.

Make it happen.

But when considering this is the same group who came up with The Mtn., their incompetence is not surprising.

That is a good idea. UNLV fans have shown over and over how classless they are. Get the tourney out of there. What MWC team wouldn't love to go to CA? Play on USC's homecourt or somewhere, just NOT the Fakers court where Phil Jackson lives.

The fact is, UNLV would rarely make it out of the first round if the tourny was played at the Marriot Center or the Huntsman Center.
Although, they FINALLY have a coach in Lon Kruger. That guy puts all the past unlv coaches to shame.

Vegas is a great spot to have it because it makes money and is pretty central to everybody and it has great weather and other good entertainment. The homecourt whining is a joke. If any team is a legitimate tournament team they should be able to win anywhere. Last time I checked Utah or BYU won't be playing any NCAA tourney games in Salt Lake or Provo, so playing in Vegas is a good tune-up. it being in Vegas can't be doing that bad because the conference keeps getting multiple bids and if the only reason UNLV gets into the tournament is because they have home-court, why do they actually win tournament games away from home? When Utah was a legitimate tourney team they could win mwc tournaments as well. Has anybody ever considered the idea that UNLV has a good team and the best coach in the conference?

First of all, this notion that the tournament is more successful in vegas is a red herring. About 5,000 people traveled to Denver. About 5,000 people travel to Vegas. It looks more successful because 10,000 UNLV fans have attended their games the last two years ... but you could get the same result in SLC, Provo, SDSU, or UNM.

Second, if the MWC really wants to fix the problem, why are tickets the same price for traveling fans as UNLV fans? If they want to fix the problem in the stands they should sell discounted tickets through booster clubs at every school except UNLV. They can offset the loss in revenue by raising public prices.

It's simple economics. Too many UNLV fans? Raise their cost. Not enough traveling fans? Lower their's. UNLV fans should pony up and pay more anyway, since they're saving on travel and hotel money anyway.

I love a competitive game whatever the sport, but what happened at the last BYU vs UNLV was disgraceful. If you don't want the violence and trouble to be repeated then drastic measures need to be taken to protect the public, players and media etc.
Police Officers need to be present inside AND outside the stadium.
Opposing fans must be segregated.
MWC officials to authorise the installation of CCTV (if not already installed) in order to monitor potential hot-spots within the crowd and pick out any ring leaders.
Any reoccurence of violence must be dealt with harshly by the Police and Courts.
By the way, were those involved in the brawl, arrested, charged and convicted? If not, then where is the deterent?

Despite the edge that UNLV has on their home court, Vegas is still the best location possible for the tournament. I attended this year's tournament and it was a very enjoyable week, despite Utah's loss to UNLV on their home floor.

Is everyone so quick to forget how miserable it was when the tournament moved to Colorado or wherever it went? Nobody went and nobody watched. Fans will go to Vegas. Fans will not go to New Mexico, Salt Lake, Denver, Boulder or anywhere else that isn't a prime location.

Southern Cal is the only real alternative, and that is far from a neutral site that is accessible for many of the schools. We in Utah will not drive to LA for the tournament, and attendence will drop considerably.

The sensible solution would be to hold the tournament in Vegas, but not at UNLV. The MGM has a good enough venue to support the tournament in a good capacity. They could hold the tourney there until the new NBA arena is built and completed in Vegas.

Dittos on Craig Thompson, although the MWC presidents have an equal amount of blame (to begin with, they hired the genius; secondly--he's still working there!). The real mystery here is: why didn't Thompson and the MWC presidents not think of the home-court issue when they set up the deal in the first place? Kind of put that in the same bucket as the other mysteries of the MWC: why did they sign the incredibly damaging TV deal? Why did they settle for the LV Bowl deal, that locks us in to playing the #4 or #5 team in the PAC-10?

It almost seems that the entire crew have no faith in the MWC product, and no confidence they could have negotiated better deals. Las Vegas and Comcast ended up laughing all the way to the bank.

Never have so many been so poorly served by so few, for such an interminably long time.

I think that somewhere in Southern California is the only other option. The all mighty dollar is what dictates where these games will be held... and nobody wants to travel to Utah (or Denver or Dallas for that matter to watch a game). Let's face it, Las Vegas is a central location that people would actually travel to. What's there to do in Salt Lake or Denver?? Marriot Center? Ha, this will NEVER happen. Can you imagine how much $$ the MWC would lose (this would hurt all teams in the conference).

ESA is out of the question: The whole point to moving it is that it's a neutral site.

Finding a "central" location geographically doesn't really matter: a plane ticket to Las Vegas or Anaheim or Pheonix is pretty comparable, from what I've seen.

Rotate the conference tourney from school to school each year. That way you can plan it, sell advanced tickets, and each team is rewarded at some point. It's only recently that a neutral site has gotten so important, but rotation and reward to each school for being in the conference makes much more sense. Not to mention cheaper since arena rental rates will be more favorable to the home team... The main things are to 1) forget the need for a neutral site and 2) stop giving solely one team the home-court advantage.

I would like to take my son to the tournament every year. We would go anywhere else but, I will not take him to Las Vegas.

OK. I have the solution. An arena was just opened here in East Peoria Illinois. Since central Illinois is a huge spring vacation mecca, I know all of you BYU fans would love to come here. It is after all just two and a half hours from Nauvoo. For the fans of all other schools, you can head down to the Para-dice riverboat and casino, two miles from the new arena. It's not quite got the glamour of Vegas -- where I served my mission -- but you can flush your money down the slots just as easily!

So, there you have the best solution to MWC woes. By the way, I'm submitting my name for MWC commisioner . . . . Just kidding.

I think it is funny that this whole thing keeps coming up about security. All the Thomas and Mack has to do is call the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police force and say we need 100 uniformed officers for security. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department will say what it cost for that and it is done. The other solution is to have the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department tell Thomas and Mack that if you want to have this event here you need X number of uniformed police officers and that will cost you $$$ per officer.

My good friend is the Capitan over these deployments and licenses for the police department and he said all anybody has to do is call and ask and we will be there. They just have to pay us. By the way they had over 200 uniformed officers at the Holyfield /Tyson fight a years ago and the venue requested that number.... and paid for them to be there.

No more excuses from this league and UNLV.

Any one with half a brain can see this is an unfair advantage for UNLV. Even the new coaches in the conference have a problem with the current situation. If you moved the tournament to the Pit, Marriot or Huntsman Center it would be the same story. To me this situation just reinforces the incompetence of the MWC commissioner Craig Thompson as well as the incompetence of school presidents to allow this injustice to continue.

I agree with the other posts that the regular season winner should host the tournament on their home court. This would allow the conference to make the money that they need and reward the team with the best regular season record. If not a neutral site would be much better than the current UNLV homer that we have now. No way does UNLV win that came against TCU this year on a Neutral court!!!

Location, Location, Location: It drives both the residential and commercial markets in most sectors.
Move the venue to S Cal and most of the Wasatch Front U and Y boosters will not drive or fly. (The same if the venue is in the AZ or Denver area.)

The oblique intimation that Vegas won't work - because of a jaundiced morality eye - is a concern of a minority, I believe. Getting the games off the UNLV campus and into another Vegas city arena though is a most laudable goal - that at least can be tried.

MWC leadership, and many athletic directors followed "Alice" into the rabbit hole when TV and Thomas Mack Arena contracts were entered into. Who will pop out of the hole though and demand, enough is enough, time to try something else.

Bring to the game to S Cal, it's so family friendly? Part of that equation is true, lots of diversity; but how many that would have driven to Vegas are going to say no thanks to the long jaunt to S Cal. I think most would stay away.

Conference leaders will talk about it, and talk about it more; and then.... we're waiting!

Simple fix for the "near riot conditions"

Don't let wives of BYU players within 100 yards of the building.

I recall when the WAC tourney did go to the conference winning school. Several major problems resulted. First, it was difficult on very short notice to promote the tourney, sell tickets (local and across the league), block hotel rooms (if the tourney was even in a town with enough existing rooms close to the site - something even Provo would have trouble with), airline costs on short notice were high, and if the home town team lost in the early rounds, then the place was empty. It simply didn't work. Awarding the regular season winner the automatic NCAA slot would make up for the tourney situation and the home court advantage problem in Las Vegas. The MWC should be getting two or three teams a year in the tourney, so even if the league winner also took the tourney, others could improve their NCAA position by playing well in Vegas. Finally, concerning security, there are problems with rushing the floor, just as their are problems with football fans rushing the field after a bowl game. The BYU fans did it the last two years in Vegas...others have done the same elsewhere. It's dangerous (tho fun too.)

The SOLUTION is simple. Propose to trade venues with the Pack 10. The Pack ten comes to Vegas and The Mountain West goes to Phoenix. Both Conferences eliminate the unfairness of home court and they both get a warm climate for fans.

Most of the fighting I saw had BYU player's wives in the middle of it. They were way worse than Labron's mom last night in the game!

Dick you are a great embarrassment to your so called profession.

Keep it in Vegas, just move it to a floor that UNLV does not play on every day. The Arena’s in MGM or Mandela each will hold 15K and it would be neutral enough to take away much of UNLV's advantage in the tourney. Come on, I am in my shorts at a keyboard and can come up with a solution what are we paying the suits for! On top of that the security would be stronger than anything around. Having been to a fight night at the MGM I can tell you this, there would be no fan interference whatsoever.

My vote is to move it to SLC not to U of U.

Yup, this MWC thing is a joke. In reading all these posts (some pretty good, some idiotic), I feel like I'm an outsider reading posts complaining about unsolvable problems in a nobody conference. Oh, the MWC IS a nobody conference. Oh, well.

BYU will never get the national attention it desires as long as it's in the MWC. SOS ensures that. It doesn't matter how good BYU is over its conference rivals, the better athletes will mostly go where they'll have a better chance at the next level, leaving BYU with only a few top players (any sport).

Rose and Bronco have national dreams that will never be realized. Too much prejudice out there against BYU's religion, and that darned SOS will continue to keep the teams (basketball and football) from getting high enough seeds for a legitimate chance to play for national championships. (If you don't think SOS factors into basketball seedings, you don't know how they're doing it.)

I went to the tourney two years ago to cheer for BYU. I wasn't looking for a fight, but by the end of the game I was definitely ready for one. I think the best thing you could do would be to have separate sections for the different schools. This way I don't have a dozen drunken Rebels being total jerks two rows back. If you must keep the event at the Thomas and Mack center, this would at the very least solve the security issue, even though the fairness issue is still unresolved.

Seems to me that the only real solution is to do one of the following:
Find a completely neutral site, i.e., Phoenix, S. Cal, find another Vegas site, Orleans for example, or rotate the tournament each year to a different school. If you rotate it ticket sales is not a problem because of last-minute down to the wire seasons to get a winner and each school has a turn in hosting so their fans don't have to travel. Waiting for the regular season winner could delay knowing where the tournament would be held and most likely would impact sales because of travel concerns.

Regardless, it has to be taken away from the T&M. Any conference who would allow the violence and chaos that ocurred there this year is sending the wrong message to the fans and it will end up costing them in the long run. I will not go back to the T&M - EVER. And my money will go to something else instead of the bb tournament.

There was a reason that UNLV was black balled by the WAC many years ago, which forced them into the Big West. The facts have not changed all these years later 1- it's a bad city 2- a bad place to take a family, 3- it's a bad place to have college kids and yes having the MWC hold a tournment there is an Embarrassment to the League. I would much rather have Utah and BYU in the WAC again so the tournament could be held at the house John and Karl built at least its off campus and it would be more fair even if its in Utah at least its not on a home court you would have three schools with an advantage (I know this will never happen that does not mean that its not a better solution). I'll never go to the MMC tournment as long as its in Vegas "What Happens in Vegas stays in Vagas." UNLV WINS AGAIN.

"If any team is a legitimate tournament team they should be able to win anywhere."

Then move the tournament to the Marriott Center, permanently. It's the largest venue and with BYU having a virtual lock on at least making it to the tournament finals every year, the conference would be sure to sell more tickets every year than they sell at the T&M.

BYU, Utah and TCU need to dump the MWC just like we dumped the WAC. It's time to join a real conference with real leadership and with BCS eligibility.

Then BYU and UT need to negotiate a local TV package. I'm appalled at the current TV situation.

But what would people do when their collective I.Q. goes down 15 points after being in Provo that long?

Utah needs to join the Pac 10 and byu needs to join the WAC so they can have better tournys and TV deals.

Ooh! Ooh! I know. Let's pick an undisclosed high school gym and let the teams play there with only the coaches, players, and refs looking on, and then they can charge the fans to watch it on the mtn.! Go Hair "Craig" Thompson!

(Yes, I get the mtn. thing. The league was going to get jobbed by ESPN, so they came up with another solution. They should have just done their homework first...)

"Then move the tournament to the Marriott Center, permanently. It's the largest venue and with BYU having a virtual lock on at least making it to the tournament finals every year..."

1. They want someplace people will actually travel to, where there are things to do.

Provo != fun family destination

2. Recent history is not indicative of future success. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I still recall a 1 (one) win basketball season. What would your proposal do to keep BYU from becoming the next UNLV?

How about holding the MWC in Energy Solutions Arena? It is no one's home court and the U & TDS would add considerable fan base to start.

Hold it at ASU.