=Hosting tens of thousands of people in one spot doesn’t seem like an easy task, but for Dallas it has almost become routine.

Greg Elam, senior vice president of communications for Dallas’ Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, said the 65,000 hotel rooms in the city and the flexibility of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport ease the stresses of handling a large event like the Big 12 basketball tournaments.

In fact, two of the three largest hotels in Texas are in downtown Dallas, minutes away from the tournament sites. He said the number of people coming to Dallas this March will be a comfortable fit.

The men’s and women’s tournaments will take place in Dallas for the first time this season. The ability to be a hosting community has meant big money for the Dallas area, which Elam said hosts numerous conventions every year.

But the Big 12 tournaments stack up with the best of them, he said.

“We’re estimating $20 million in economic impact [from the basketball tournaments],” Elam said. “That’s based on patterns here and experience of their earlier events. It’s also based on the expectation that there will be more travelers here than when it was in the Kansas City area.”

The basketball tournaments will be played at the American Airlines Center and Reunion Arena in downtown Dallas this season. It will be the first time in the six-year history of the Big 12 that the March event hasn’t taken place in Kansas City, Mo.

Maxine Nolan, director of communications for the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau of Greater Kansas City, said even though the tournament has moved on, Kansas City won’t feel much impact economically.

She said the NCAA Division I wrestling championships in March will help make up for anything lost by the departure of the Big 12 basketball tournaments.

“On top of that, we have three [other] basketball tournaments,” Nolan said.

The wrestling tournament will bring in an estimated $20 million, Nolan said. The Mid-Continent Conference — including teams like Valparaiso and Oral Roberts — will host its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments in the city for the first time this month, bringing in roughly $5.1 million.

The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) men’s and women’s basketball tournaments and the NAIA Division I men’s basketball tournament will combine to provide nearly $5 million to Kansas City.

Nolan said the city will welcome the Big 12 tournaments back in 2005, but won’t be hurting for the next two years because of it.

“In the meantime, Kansas City won’t be empty this March,” Nolan said. “We have four other tournaments going on.”