Missouri Valley Conference Basketball Media Guides 2013-14 Men's Basketball Media Guide | Page 5

This is the Missouri Valley Conference
marketing of both institutionally-produced and conferenceproduced webcasts.
In 2010, The Valley took a major step toward ensuring
current revenues in television media and tournament sponsorship sales would be guaranteed in future years when it
announced?a?10-year?partnership?with?Learfield?Sports.?The?
Jefferson City, Missouri-based company now has the exclusive
sales and marketing rights to MVC assets that include championships and television advertising.
During the tenure of Doug Elgin, The Valley’s ninth and
longest-tenured commissioner, The Valley has been aggressive in hosting NCAA events in St. Louis. From 1998-2010,
the MVC served as
host for a staggering
nine NCAA tournament
events in that 13-year
period, which has made
St. Louis one of the
most frequent stops
on the NCAA Tournament trail. The Valley
hosted Women’s Final
Fours in 2001 and 2009
and the Men’s Final
Four in 2005. This
year, The Valley will
host an NCAA secondand third-round men’s
basketball event at
Scottrade Center in St.
Louis. Last year, the
league hosted an NCAA
In 2013, Wichita State became the
second- and thirdfirst?MVC?team?to?reach?the?Final?
round men’s basketball
Four since 1979. The Shockers fell
event in Kansas City
to Louisville in the national semis.
and previously assisted
with preliminary round
men’s events in both 2008 and 2012 in Omaha.
The seeds for the creation of the conference were planted
by?eight?administrators?representing?five?institutions,?who?
met at the Midland Hotel in Kansas City, Mo., on Jan. 12,
1907.??The?five?schools?which?formed?the?Missouri?Valley?
Intercollegiate Athletic Association were Washington University of St. Louis, and the state universities of Iowa, Kansas,
Missouri and Nebraska. Two months after the initial meeting,
two more schools -- Drake University and Iowa State College
-- were admitted.
? In?the?fall?of?1907,?basketball?became?the?first?competitive?
sport. Today, the Missouri Valley Conference sponsors the
following sports: baseball, men’s and women’s basketball,
men’s?and?women’s?cross?country?and?track?&?field?(indoor?
and outdoor), men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s
soccer, softball, women’s swimming and diving, men’s and
women’s tennis, and women’s volleyball.
While The Valley no longer sponsors football (it did from
1907-85), six league members compete in football at the FCS
(Football Championship Subdivision) level as Illinois State,
Indiana State, Missouri State, UNI and Southern Illinois play
in the 10-member Missouri Valley Football Conference (with
North Dakota State, South Dakota, South Dakota State,
Western Illinois and Youngstown State). That league competed as the Gateway Conference from 1985-2007. Drake plays
non-scholarship football in the Pioneer Football League.
This season, the league will conduct its 103rd outdoor track
and?field?championship,?its?96th?tennis?championship,?its?60th?
baseball tournament, and its 76th golf championship for the
men. Those programs, plus other current sponsored sports
of cross country (55 years), indoor track (63), men’s soccer
(23), women’s soccer (17), and swimming and diving (20),
have helped solidify The Valley as one of the nation’s most
respected conferences.
Athletic accomplishments include four NCAA national
basketball championships, 17 trips to the NCAA Final Four, a
1989 national baseball championship and 19 College World
Series?qualifiers.??The?league?owns?a?total?of?30?post-season?

MVC Info.

ed the league in post-season play, and the league combined
for a record-setting 13 post-season victories in 2013.
Creighton’s Doug McDermott earned First-Team All-America
honors?for?the?second-straight-year,?becoming?the?first?league?
player to earn First Team All-America honors in back-to-back
seasons since Indiana State’s Larry Bird (1978 and 1979).
And?for?the?first?time?in?15?years?and?only?the?third?time?in?
MVC history, two players eclipsed the 2,000-point plateau in
the same year as McDermott (2,216) was joined by Evansville’s Colt Ryan (2,279).
The MVC Men’s Basketball Championship – affectionately
known as Arch Madness - continues to be a spectacular showcase for the league, and the MVC has extended the tournament agreement with the Scottrade Center that will keep Arch
Madness in St. Louis through at least 2015. During the 2011
MVC Championship, the league surpassed 1 million in total
attendance for the event, now in its 24th year. Notably, the
2013 championship was the second-most attended in conference history.
While the success of men’s basketball has received the
greatest attention, the overall performance of league teams in
virtually?every?sport?continues?to?raise??