Permanent Sites For Big 12 Championships Won't Happen Anytime Soon

From Lee Barfknecht of the Omaha World-Herald:

Memo to Arlington, Texas, and Kansas City, Mo.: Don’t count on becoming the anchor sites, respectively, for the Big 12 football championship game and the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.

Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe said Monday that the league is likely to continue moving the football and basketball events around. "I think we’re still in the mode of just looking at the best possible sites,’’ he said. "We’re not considering permanency with identifying any particular site at this point.

 This really makes no sense at all. I don't know of any fans who want to attend a Big 12 Conference Championship football game outdoors in Kansas City at night in December? While I recognize that playing in the elements is part of football, and am not worried about the players here, December in Kansas City is prone to snow and freezing temperatures, and do fans really want to go through that? Why not play the game in a domed stadium, so you can close the roof if it is blizzarding outside, like in Arlington? From a fan standpoint, anchoring the conference championship game in Arlington makes a lot of sense. It is a closer drive for all of the Big 12 South schools and their fanbases than going to Kansas City is.

I also think having the conference basketball tournaments in Kansas City on a permanent basis makes sense. Kansas City has the facilities to host both men's and women's basketball, while Dallas is lacking a second venue for the women's tournament. Oklahoma City is really not a viable permanent site for the basketball tournament, because it Oklahoma City, for one thing, and they already host the baseball tournament. Oklahoma is also not known for its support of tournaments when the home teams aren't doing well, so it makes them a poor choice for a permanent host.

Not having permanent venues for the tournaments means we can't slate a specific site as 'home' for a tournament or championship game, and let the host city grow into that role. Right  now,  fans have to hope if their team makes it to a championship or tournament, they can make short-term plans and travel to the site of the game. A permanent site would alleviate this problem, because you would know where you are going every year.

I really don't see the logic behind Don Beebe's decision here, unless it is just that he and the other Big 12 officials like being wined and dined and spoiled as city leaders try to 'entice' (read: bribe) them to put their championships in that city. This is the only logical reason I can come up with for Beebe's opinion, because the benefits of having a permanent host city for conference championships outweigh the positives of moving it around. The SEC has permanent championship sites, and they are doing well. The ACC keeps trying to move around their football championship, with mixed results. I don't see why we don't pick a site for a ten-year basis, at minimum, stick with it, and see how it works.