MWC Basketball Tournament continuing at Las Vegas

Perhaps Utah should get some of the credit for Tuesday’s decision by the Mountain West Conference Board of Directors to keep the MWC basketball tournament in Las Vegas for the next five years.
The conference decided to keep the tournament in Las Vegas from 2011 to 2013 rather than move it to Salt Lake, Albuquerque or San Diego, which were up for consideration. The fact that Utah, rather than host UNLV won the tourney last year might have helped the Board decide to stay in Vegas
UNLV has won the tournament more than any other team and had won it in 2007 and 2008. However, last year, the Utes won the tournament to earn the automatic berth. I guess actually you have to give San Diego State credit too for eliminating the Rebels in the first round last year.
If UNLV had won the tournament again, I think it might have made MWC officials think twice about continuing the tournament, although they still might have decided on Las Vegas anyway.
After attending conference tournaments for most of the past 20 years, I agree Las Vegas is the best site. However I still wish the league would pursue the idea of playing the tournament at somewhere besides the Thomas & Mack Center. There are a couple of arenas in town such as the MGM that are large enough to host the tourney, but the proximity of a casino to the arena keeps the league from trying that option.