KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County. Share your story idea with Tod.
—
It’s March, which means tournament basketball is heating up in Kansas City.
That included applying some final touches Tuesday at Municipal Auditorium, which will host the MIAA Men’s and Women’s Championships this week.
“We're really proud in the MIAA,” Commissioner Mike Racy said. “We really get to start a month of celebrating college basketball in Kansas City.”
Both MIAA Basketball Championships tip off Wednesday, so does the Big 12 Women’s Basketball Tournament at the T-Mobile Center.
The Big 12 men takeover downtown next week, while the Kansas City region also hosts a mix of junior college, NAIA and high school championships in the coming weeks.
“Kansas City, when you think about college basketball, there's nowhere like it in the country with everything that's going on and all the championships that take place,” Racy said.
Historically, at the center of that hoops madness, sits Municipal Auditorium.
“You walk around this place and you can kind of feel the ghost of John Wooden or the ghost of Wilt Chamberlain playing on this court,” Racy said. “It's just such a special place.”
MIAA Assistant Commissioner for Communications Brenna Winn is helping with “MIAA Madness” for the fourth time.
“One of my first years working in this championship, I got to go way up there with our photographer,” Winn said, pointing high into Municipal’s rafters. “There's some old confetti up there. I was told it was from one of the Final Fours that was hosted here.”
Municipal Auditorium has hosted nine Final Fours, more than any other venue and that history is a big reason why the MIAA announced an extension last week to keep their tourneys in Kansas City through 2030.
“This place is the reason we're staying,” Racy said. “There's something very special about Municipal Auditorium. Our coaches and our student athletes love playing here.”
