From the Dallas Morning News:

Garland ISD's events center to be site of Southwestern Athletic Conference basketball tournaments

12:00 AM CDT on Wednesday, June 23, 2010
By KAREL HOLLOWAY / The Dallas Morning News
kholloway@dallasnews.com
 
The Garland school district's Special Events Center has snagged a contract for the Southwestern Athletic Conference's 2011, 2012 and 2013 basketball tournaments.
 
The agreement was announced in Birmingham, Ala., on Tuesday after a vote of the presidents and chancellors representing member universities.
 
The conference is made up of 10 historically black colleges including Grambling State University, Prairie View A&M University and Texas Southern University.
 
The conference sought proposals from 15 areas.
 
"Garland's was by far the best proposal," said Tom Galbraith, the conference's assistant commissioner for communications.
 
Neither Galbraith nor Garland Superintendent Curtis Culwell could say how much Garland will receive.
 
"It gives the Events Center exposure," Culwell said. "I think it will be a positive event for the region and a positive event for us."
 
The conference would like to turn the men's and women's tournaments into a four-day entertainment and sports event, Galbraith said.
 
"It's time to really brand the tournament. We're trying to make it a total entertainment and destination event," he said.
 
The facility, which includes a 7,500-seat arena and conference center, was built to hold school events. But part of the plan was to bring in outside concerts, meetings and other events to help pay operating expenses.
 
While the number of events at the center has increased, the facility still doesn't pay for itself, according to school district records. The district continues to aggressively market the center.
 

 
I still haven't read all of Wednesday's paper, where the above article appeared, but I did manage to hear a report from Superintendent Curtis Culwell yesterday at the Garland Economic Development Partnership's meeting. It is exciting news and I thought others probably missed the article, too. The news did appear earlier on the DMN Garland Blog here so be sure to check-in there for school and city news.