A-10 to keep Atlantic City as tournament host for another year

The Atlantic 10 announced Wednesday it had agreed to a one-year contract extension that will allow the conference tournament to remain in Atlantic City, N.J., through the 2009 season.

For all intents and purposes if the A-10 is going to try to keep some form of neutral site for its men’s basketball tournament, Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall is probably the best available option.

It’s a very nice basketball arena and did well as the tournament host last season. Some teams have complained about their lodging – some were housed in hotels 20 miles from the strip, and on the other side of the coin having college students housed in the midst of gambling casinos could be asking for trouble.

All in all, however, Atlantic City has served well. It would be hard to come up with another neutral site that was in general proximity to most conference teams. Holding the tournament in Cincinnati, even if technically not on Xavier’s home court, was still an advantage for the Musketeers.

With teams as far north as Massachusetts and Rhode Island, as far south as Richmond and Charlotte and as far west as Saint Louis, a compromising neutral court isn’t easy to find.

The only other areas I think could work would be metropolitan New York or perhaps the Baltimore/College Park, Md. area. Otherwise, if neutral sites are abandoned, I would at least try to host the tournament at arenas not used by the member schools as home courts.