however, the tournament has been hosted at a neutral arena site each year since 2009 (hot springs, arkansas and new orleans, louisiana). lakefront arena in new orleans had previously hosted the event in 2002 when uno was still a sun belt member, but the privateers have since departed the conference. the only other neutral sites to host a sun belt tournament were the hampton coliseum in hampton, virginia (1985) and the mississippi coast coliseum in biloxi, mississippi (1992–1993).