The 2007 Big Ten Conference Men’s Basketball tournament at the United Center in Chicago will be the last time the Illini basketball team will have their so-called home court advantage at its home away from home.

The Big Ten Conference announced on June 5 a five-year contract for the city of Indianapolis to serve as the primary host for the Big Ten Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments beginning with the 2007-08 season.

“As a conference, we felt it was time to establish the tournaments at a single site for an extended period in order to maximize the tournaments’ success,” said Big Ten Commissioner James E. Delany in a press release. “While this was a difficult decision, we want to recognize the contributions of Chicago to the men’s event and we look forward to returning for the 10th annual men’s tournament next March.”

The first four years of Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament had been held in Chicago from 1998-2001. It was not until 2002 that the city of Indianapolis first hosted the event, and ever since Chicago and Indianapolis have rotated as the home of the men’s tournament. In its nine years of existence, the men’s tournament has welcomed more than 874,000 fans.

“Obviously as a school we are a little disappointed because the United Center is a great venue. Chicago is one of the premiere cities in not only the United States, but the world,” Illinois men’s head basketball coach Bruce Weber said. “But Indianapolis does a great job with all amateur sports. It’s a very fan-friendly city and they have a great set up for a good tournament atmosphere.”

The Big Ten Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments have been held in Indianapolis at the same time in 2002, 2004 and 2006. Each time the women’s tournament increased its attendance records.

The men’s tournament has boasted seven sellout crowds when played at Conseco Fieldhouse, including the final four set of games in 2002 and last year’s quarterfinal and semifinal rounds. In addition, the 2006 men’s tournament brought together a total of 90,763 Big Ten basketball fans to average 18,153 fans per session.

“We’ve still get great attendance when we play in Indianapolis,” Weber said. “Last year when we played Michigan State we had a great crowd, and when we played the first two rounds in the NCAA Tournament the year before we had great attendance. I know our fans will get there, we were just hoping Chicago would’ve still been included in there in some way.”

In its nine years of existence only four Big Ten men’s basketball teams have taken home the Big Ten Tournament trophy, including Illinois in 2003 and 2005, Iowa in 2001 and 2006, Michigan State in 1999 and 2000 and Wisconsin in 2004.

Illinois’ men’s team has never won the Big Ten Tournament when it has been played in Indianapolis, but reached the 2004 Championship game against Wisconsin before falling to the Badgers 70-53.

“I think part of the decision may have been a little bit of a backlash from some of our success in Chicago and because there is always a lot of orange there,” Weber said. “Some of the other schools felt it was an advantage for us. But the problem is if Indiana and Purdue pick it up like they possibly could, people probably wouldn’t want it to be in Indianapolis. It will be interesting to see what happens.”