Big West Conference basketball tournaments moving from Anaheim to Las Vegas

Big West Conference officials announced Wednesday the 2021 Big West Conference Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships will move to the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, March 9-13, 2021.

The tournament had been scheduled to be played at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

Because some conference games have been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, all 10 men’s and nine women’s teams will compete in the tournament, officials said. In the past, only eight teams qualified for each league tournament.

“We are very appreciative of our partners at Honda Center who agreed to allow us to relocate the Big West Basketball Championships, presented by Hawaii Tourism Authority, to Las Vegas and the Mandalay Bay Events Center in 2021,” Big West Commissioner Dan Butterly said in a statement. “bdG Sports and MGM Resorts International will provide a bubble-like setting that includes significant proactive measures to mitigate the impact of the virus and safeguard the health and safety of all teams competing in the championships.”

The Mandalay Bay Events Center has hosted both the 2019 WNBA all-star game and the 2020 Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Championship, conference officials added in the release.

Big West officials added that “bdG Sports, in conjunction with MGM Resorts, will assist in managing the championships and administer a comprehensive health and safety plan for the event including use of an on-site medical center conducting both rapid antigen and PCR tests.”

All student-athletes, coaches and staff will be provided daily screenings and testing in accordance with NCAA recommendations, state and county restrictions, and contact tracing, officials said. In addition, players will be able to safely walk from their hotel rooms to the arena to compete in the championships without outside contact.

Benches, basketballs and shared-use areas, such as media tables, will be sanitized at the start of each day and immediately upon the completion of each game, conference officials added.

Big West officials have decided that regular season games can be played without spectators. But they added they will monitor the coronavirus pandemic and could possibly allow limited crowds to attend the tournament. That will be determined later with announcements to come.