The Southern Conference has announced the future sites for league championships include the 2011 SoCon softball tournament coming to Georgia Southern University. 

 

The conference also formally announced that all championships will be restored to full participation levels. 

 

The league’s women’s soccer, men’s soccer and volleyball tournaments will all include eight teams. The men’s tennis and women’s tennis championships will include all 11 and 12 members, respectively. The 2011 Southern Conference softball championship will include all nine league teams.

 

Asheville, N.C., has been awarded the league’s men’s and women’s basketball tournament for 2012, 2013 and 2014. The tournament site was selected by the league’s athletic directors as part of the conference’s annual spring meetings held this week. 

 

The 2012 tournament will mark a return to Asheville, site of the men’s basketball tournament from 1984-95. 

 

The conference entertained proposals for the basketball tournament from six different cities: Charleston, S.C., Charlotte, N.C., Chattanooga, Tenn., Greenville, S.C., and Winston-Salem, N.C. 

 

“We’re thrilled to be returning to Asheville, a site where the Southern Conference enjoyed some of its most exciting basketball championships,” said Southern Conference Commissioner John Iamarino. “The city of Asheville clearly demonstrated its enthusiasm and commitment to hosting the tournament in its presentation to the membership. We had six outstanding choices available, which illustrates the growing prestige of this event.”

 

The 2012 men’s tournament will be played in Asheville’s Civic Center while the women’s tournament will begin at UNC Asheville’s Kimmel Arena. The women’s tournament semifinals and championship game will be played at the Civic Center. As part of the city’s bid, the local organizing committee has pledged $3.2 million in capital improvements to the 6,300-seat arena that will be completed prior to the 2012 tournament.