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Missouri Valley Conference Tournament brings in $1M to the QC

The Quad Cities was host to the Missouri Valley Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament this weekend for the first time at the iWireless Center. This yea...

The Quad Cities was host to the Missouri Valley Conference Women's Basketball Tournament this weekend for the first time at the iWireless Center.

This year was the first of a three year contract the conference has with the Quad Cities Convention and Visitors Bureau. The Bureau put in a big to hold the tournament back in 2014.

"This was the one place that gave us everything we wanted in terms of building, location and geography," says Missouri Valley senior associate commissioner Patty Viverito.

Viverito says it's the easy access downtown Moline provides with hotels and restaurants within walking distance from the venue that won them the bid.

The Bureau president says everything from welcoming the teams to the Quad Cities to the final game played, everything went according to plan.

"We've gone above and beyond to make sure they knew they were really wanted here so that has really paid off," says Bureau president and CEO Joe Taylor.

Over the weekend, the tournament brought in more than $1M to local businesses. And people left with plans to return in the future.

"It builds awareness. Many fans likely have not been here before, so we suddenly have a few thousand new fans of the Quad Cities," says Taylor.

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