The American Athletic Conference league office announced Monday that next season's men's basketball conference tournament will not be held in Memphis at the FedExForum but will instead be held at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn.
The 2014 American tournament was held at the FedExForum this past March, but attendance suffered when the Tigers fell in the first round.
AAC commissioner Mike Aresco said the league had the option to return to Memphis, but they wanted to "think about planting our flag elsewhere in our constituency."
"I want to thank the City of Memphis, the FedExForum, the University of Memphis and the local community," Aresco said. "They were great partners and showed tremendous support and enthusiastically embraced our inaugural men's basketball championship. The championship may well return there down the road."
Memphians became accustomed to having the Tigers' conference tournaments in Memphis after the Conference USA tournaments were held in Memphis nearly every season. However, it could be a while before the American returns to the Bluff City.
The Orlando Sentinel reported Monday morning that the tournament would make its way to the Amway Center in Orlando, Fla., in 2016 and 2017, but Aresco declined to confirm those reports.
He spoke at length about the tournament rotating locations from year to year, but he said he expects to make announcements regarding 2016 and 2017 on Tuesday.
The University of Connecticut, which plays many of their games at the XL Center, won both the men's and women's national championships this season.
Aresco said the American received bids from several cities, but Connecticut's bid stood out.
"Hartford submitted an outstanding bid and should be given tremendous credit for doing that," he said. "We also recognized that there is enormous excitement in Hartford with the UConn men's and women's national championships. Connecticut is now the center of the college basketball universe."
