Ohio Valley Conference

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. -- The Ohio Valley Conference will conduct its 2002 men's and women's basketball tournaments in Louisville, Ky., returning to the city where the league was founded in 1948.

The tournaments will be held March 1-3, 2002 at the Kentucky International Convention Center, which hosted the NCAA Division II men's basketball championship from 1995-2000. The facility, which is located in the heart of downtown Louisville, features a flexible seating capacity of 2,000 to 7,100, four new locker rooms, and significant meeting space for alumni and booster functions.

"Louisville has gone the extra mile to make us feel welcome and has made a strong commitment to put on a weekend that will be memorable for our student-athletes, coaches and fans," said OVC Commissioner Dan Beebe. "We have been impressed by how quickly Louisville marshalled its community support to clearly demonstrate a desire to host our premier event."

Louisville was the site of the first 11 OVC men's basketball tournaments, starting with the inaugural event in 1949. The tournament was conducted at Louisville Gardens from 1949-1955 and then again from 1964-1967. More than a million people live in the Louisville metro area, including a large group of alumni from OVC institutions.

The conference has received a tremendous amount of interest and support from the Greater Louisville Sports Commission and the Greater Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau, and several Louisville businesses have already committed to serving as corporate sponsors of the tournament. The city is in the process of putting together a local organizing committee to assist in the operation of the event.

"We are really excited about having the opportunity to host the OVC men's and women's tournaments here in Louisville," said Andy Jugan, executive director of the Greater Louisville Sports Commission. "This represents a tremendous opportunity for the community and a chance to fill the gap that opened when the NCAA decided to rotate the "Elite Eight" tournament geographically. With the proximity of so many OVC schools to Louisville and the great number of OVC alumni in Louisville and Jefferson County, the tournament should draw well from a spectator standpoint. We will organize and market this tournament like it has never been marketed before, and give the OVC the best tournament its ever had."

The OVC men's and women's tournaments have been held in Nashville since 1994, with the Gaylord Entertainment Center having served as the site since 1997. Since the facility was unavailable from March 1-3, the OVC decided to find a new venue for the 2002 tournament rather than move from its traditional weekend. ESPN has committed to televising the men's tournament championship game for the 16th straight year, and the women's title game will be aired on FOX Sports Net South.

"We are excited about the OVC's decision to award the 2002 men's and women's basketball championships to the Kentucky International Convention Center, said Linda Edwards, vice president of sales and marketing for the center. "This state-of-the-art facility, our experienced basketball-oriented staff and the local organizing committee will deliver a first-class event."

Along with the new venue, there will also be a change in the tournament format. The men's semifinals will be held at 6 and 8 p.m. (ET) on Friday, March 1, with the championship game set for 3 p.m. (ET) on Saturday, March 2. The women's semifinals will be held at 6 and 8 p.m. (ET) on March 2, with the championship game to be played at 3 p.m. (ET) on Sunday, March 3. First-round games will continue to be played at the on-campus sites of the four highest seeds.