From the Central Florida Future —
ORLANDO — American Athletic Conference commissioner Mike Aresco announced Tuesday that the 2016 and 2017 men’s basketball conference tournaments would be held at the Amway Center.
“Our decision to come to Orlando is in part a function of our desire to rotate this event to various points within our conference blueprint,” Aresco said. “But also, to offer our fans an outstanding destination, a state of the art arena, and a place where we will have tremendous community support.”
The Amway Center hosted games in the second and third rounds of the NCAA tournament.
On hand for the announcement were the following: Orlando mayor Buddy Dyer, Orange County mayor Teresa Jacobs, Central Florida Sports Commission president John Bisignano, UCF men’s basketball head coach Donnie Jones and athletic director Todd Stansbury.
Dyer couldn’t predict the economic impact that the American Conference tournament would bring to the Orlando area, but did say that the NCAA tournament filled an estimated 14,000 hotel rooms and infused $10 million into the local economy.
“When I came to UCF a little over two years ago, one of the priorities for me was to make UCF Athletics an indispensable partner to both the university and the Central Florida community,” said UCF Athletics director Stansbury. “I think this is a great example of that partnership…..MORE HERE
