On Wednesday, the Big Ten made some significant announcements, revealing locations for various upcoming postseason events. The release included information regarding the next two Big Ten Tournaments. The league noted the following:

Upcoming Big Ten Postseason Events:

• 2023 Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament - Target Center (Minneapolis, MN)
• 2023 Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament - United Center (Chicago, IL)
• 2024 Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament - Target Center (Minneapolis, MN)
• 2024 Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament - Target Center (Minneapolis, MN)

Obviously, the most significant announcement here relates to the men’s tournament in 2024, when the Big Ten will take things up north to Minneapolis. It’s the first time the event has been held in Minnesota, though it has circulated in recent years. As fans will recall, the event was recently held in Washington, DC and New York City to much debate.

Thoughts:

Generally speaking, it’s hard to complain much about this selection. While Minnesota is going to be a lengthy haul for Maryland and Rutgers’ fans, Minneapolis is a great city with an outstanding basketball scene. It seems like a natural fit for the tournament to move up there for a year. It’s also a fair move for fans of western teams like Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin after things moved to DC and NYC for two years.

Let’s also hope this encourages the Big Ten to keep this up moving forward. It seems only natural to rotate the event around the mainstay locations of Chicago and Indianapolis. It not only allows teams and fans to enjoy new arenas, but will allow many to attend who otherwise wouldn’t be able or willing to travel across states for mid-week games.

If we’re taking a poll for alternate locations, here are some nominations:

• Cleveland
• Detroit
• Milwaukee
• Philadelphia

All four have decent (to great) downtowns and are relatively close to at least a Big Ten school or two. It’d be a lot of fun to see those cities and the alternate locations already visited mixed with the two mainstays (Chicago and Indy) in the years ahead. We’ll have to wait and see, but Minneapolis in 2024 should be plenty of fun.