(Photo By Flickr User ep_jhu)

The Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament is heading, "To the East, my brother/sister, to the East!"

The Big Ten Conference announced earlier this week that the Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament will make its first appearance on the East Coast when the 2017 event is held at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC.

According to bigten.org, the 2017 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament will mark the conference's 20th annual event and will feature all 14 conference institutions in action from Wednesday, March 8th, through Sunday, March 12th, with the winner earning the Big Ten's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.

Big Ten Commissioner James E. Delany says, "We're thrilled to announce plans to host the Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament in Washington, DC. We have a great amount of respect for basketball in this region of the country and are pleased that we were able to place this tournament at the Verizon Center at this first possible opportunity in March 2017."

The Verizon Center is a 20,000-seat multi-purpose sports and entertainment venue, owned and operated by Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in downtown Washington, DC The arena is home to three professional sports teams, also owned by MSE, the NBA's Washington Wizards, NHL's Washington Capitals, and WNBA's Washington Mystics. Hosting an average of 220 events per year, inclusive of games, concerts, family shows, and world-class sporting events.

The Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament has been held in either Chicago, IL or Indianapolis, IN through the first 17 years of its existence, and returns to Chicago's United Center for the 9th time in 2015. Indianapolis' Bankers Life Fieldhouse will host the tournament for the 10th time in 2016. Each of the last two tournaments have been sold out, including a conference record of more than 124,000 fans at the United Center in 2013 and over 111,000 fans at Bankers Life Fieldhouse earlier this year (the largest attendance in Indianapolis). More than 1.6 million fans have enjoyed the tournament since the inaugural event in 1998.