West Coast Conference, Orleans Arena announce basketball tournament extension

The West Coast Conference men’s and women’s basketball tournaments will be sticking around in Las Vegas — at least through 2019.

The conference and Boyd Gaming announced the three-year extension, which keeps the two tournaments at The Orleans, on Thursday.

“We are excited to continue our long partnership with the WCC and to continue to provide a first-class experience for the teams and fans that come to our property each year,” Tony Taeubel, senior vice president and general manager of The Orleans said in a release. “We look forward to welcoming WCC fans and student-athletes back to The Orleans in 2017.” T

The WCC events are two of the seven conference tournaments held in Las Vegas during the first two weeks of March. The men’s tournament averaged announced crowds of 4,627 per game last March and 4,373 a game for the 2014-15 event.

The WCC announcement said that The Orleans will “make several venue enhancements, highlighted by the installation of a new center-hung high-definition video board.” The arena will also have LED lighting installed.

“Over the past eight years, the Las Vegas community and the Orleans Arena have embraced our men’s and women’s basketball programs and fans,” WCC commissioner Lynn Holzman said in the release. “We are looking forward to building on that success in the coming years.”

Betsy Helfand can be reached at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @BetsyHelfand