Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Commissioner Doug Elgin announces that the MVC men's basketball tournament will remain in St. Louis at the Scottrade Center for the next three years during a press conference in St. Louis on July 9, 2014. The Missouri Valley will celebrate 25 straight years of this tournament in St. Louis March of 2015. UPI/Bill Greenblatt

Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Commissioner Doug Elgin announces that the MVC men’s basketball tournament will remain in St. Louis at the Scottrade Center for the next three years during a press conference in St. Louis on July 9, 2014. The Missouri Valley will celebrate 25 straight years of this tournament in St. Louis March of 2015. UPI/Bill Greenblatt

The Missouri Valley Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament will remain in St. Louis through at least 2018, MVC Commissioner Doug Elgin made the announcement today in St. Louis.

The agreement is for three years (March 3-6, 2016; March 2-5, 2017; and March 1-4, 2018), with the league holding an option for the 2019 and 2020 MVC tournaments. The MVC will conduct its 25th-straight men’s basketball tournament in St. Louis in 2015, having staged the event in Kiel Auditorium (1991), the Saint Louis Arena (1992-94) and Scottrade Center (1995-present).

“This was an important decision for our conference, and we are excited to be able to continue the remarkable run that our tournament has enjoyed in this neutral city,” said Elgin. “We are indebted to Scottrade Center, the St. Louis Sports Commission, the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission and all of our partners in St. Louis who have made it possible for us to grow Arch Madness in a first-class fashion.

“I’d like to commend two other cities — Chicago and Kansas City — who put together very compelling proposals. The amenities offered, coupled with the professionalism they displayed, made this a very challenging process for our membership,” Elgin added.

Only the Big East Conference has had a longer, continuously-running event at the same neutral site than has the Missouri Valley with its Arch Madness, which has built a strong tradition with the men’s basketball championship in St. Louis. The Big East has played its men’s tournament at Madison Square Garden in New York City every year since 1981 (34th consecutive year in 2014).