Ay-Ziggy-Zoomba.com

The Mid-American Conference and Quicken Loans Arena have announced a six-year contract extension to host the MAC men’s and women’s basketball conference tournament through 2017. The contract extension guarantees the continuation of the conference tournament at the same neutral site since 2000.

The 2011 MAC tournament is March 9-12, 2011. The tournament continues with the current format for both men’s and women’s tournaments with opening round games on campus sites for teams seeded 5-12. Eight men’s and women’s teams advance to the quarterfinal rounds.

“The Mid-American Conference is extremely pleased to extend our partnership with Quicken Loans Arena and the Cleveland Cavaliers for our First Energy Men’s and Women’s Basketball Conference Tournament,” said MAC commissioner, Dr. Jon A. Steinbrecher. “This partnership provides our student-athletes and our fans the finest basketball facility in the country for our conference basketball tournament. The entire Quicken Loans Arena and Cavaliers staff have been extremely supportive to ensure our membership and student-athletes receive a positive experience in Cleveland.”

Not sure how I feel about this. One one hand, I like the men's tourney being there, but on the other hand, I was hoping the women's tourney would move to the Huntington Center in Toledo or CSU. I feel like the women are slighted by the times they have to play and the attendance.

I agree the women are getting the short end of the scheduling at The Q but isn't it great that they want the MAC (both men & women) at their facility.

I also agree that the women are getting the short end of scheduling times. It was also announced that STO was televising all of the men's tournament (quarterfinals, semi's & finals) but only the semi's and the finals of the women's. I was hoping that this would change when Fox Sports Ohio wasn't involved anymore. It's time the MAC office gets their television partner to have equal coverage of both tournaments.

Title IX doesn't include any language regarding equal television time...*ducking*

It is not a Title IX problem, it is a fairness problem. The majority of the so called major conferences provide equal (or close to it) TV coverage for both their women's and men's tournaments. It may be on a regional network, it may be on a locally produced network. If the MAC has aspirations of being considered a major player, then things should change.

To be honest, I don't think the MAC has aspirations of being considered a major player. It isn't a fairness problem, it is a business problem. There isn't demand for the product. Locally, BG and UT, and out east, Kent might have fan interest, but if the league figures it is set to be a mid-major and not much more than that, they are only going to push as hard as we see. Plus the outside world isn't exactly beating down the doors to televise the entire range of men and women's sports.

I wish the league would push harder to put the games on the web, worry less about cable TV.

My Title IX comment was completely in jest and I do think it would be great to see the women get the same coverage as the men. I love watching our ladies play, especially when they are whooping on Toledo. Hopefully STO will work something out.