Quinton Lucas: Come visit Kansas City, where the Big 12 belongs | Opinion

This week, the Big 12 tipped off the greatest conference tournament in college basketball in downtown Kansas City, where the Big 12 is celebrating 30 years as a conference and crowns a champion in the only place its basketball tournament has called home. While the conference’s tournament has been a constant, the size of the conference has not, now stretching from Florida and the Mid-Atlantic to the southwest. In the modern Big 12, Kansas City remains what it always has been for the conference: the center of it all.

Kansas City has hosted the men’s tournament 23 times because the city delivers. In Kansas City, the Big 12 tournament is more than a sporting event. It is a cultural staple Kansas City looks forward to every year. The arena sits in the heart of our city. Hotels fill up. Downtown shines every night of the tournament with the colors of visiting teams. Kansas City’s fixed rail system, the streetcar, provides fast and free transit for visitors to enjoy many of the cultural and economic touchstones of our city extending out from the arena.

Kansas City is a convenient road trip for most Big 12 teams, and less than a three-hour flight away for the conference’s farthest schools and their fans. Unlike some cities that reward only the wealthiest travelers and boosters, Kansas City rewards the students, the generations of families attending, and the die-hard fans who make the tournament and college sports special.

The Big 12 saw early what global sporting organizations have come to see. In 2026, Kansas City will not only host six FIFA World Cup games, but the region will serve as home to England, Argentina, the Netherlands and Algeria.

Rather than discarding tradition, accessibility and global recognition, the Big 12 should continue to lead college sports in maintaining postseason tradition, like Omaha and the College World Series. With the College World Series, fans plan vacations around the annual event. Local businesses build memorable experiences, and the city invests millions to build the premier sporting event in college baseball. Cultural identity and brand strength do not develop through rotation. Both happen when a city and sports leaders make a long-term commitment to each other, and both show up. The Big 12 Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments have the same relationship in Kansas City. Why walk away for an imitation Pac 12 tournament?

College athletics is changing faster than at any point in its history. Conference realignment, streaming rights, the shifting economics of the game, and players’ name, image and likeness licensing have upended traditions that once seemed permanent. In that environment, continuity matters more than ever. Profitable rituals that remain — the ones that fans can count on, plan around, and return to year after year — are what give the sport its pulse. Kansas City has kept and amplified that pulse without fail.

I encourage fans to come see the spirit of college basketball in a city that has hosted more Final Fours — and Big 12 tournaments — than anywhere else. We’ll save some burnt ends for you.

Quinton Lucas is mayor of Kansas City.

This story was originally published March 12, 2026 at 5:06 AM.