The Big East Conference originated on May 31,1979 by the brainchild of the Providence head coach and athletic director Dave Gavitt. The original seven school alliance included Providence, St Johns, Georgetown, Syracuse, Seton Hall, Connecticut, and Boston College. Gavitt was the conference's first Commissioner and held that position until 1990. The first tournament started in 1980 but has been held in Madison Square Garden since 1983. The tournament is the longest running conference at any one site in all of college basketball. At its peak, the conference consisted of 16 universities in the eastern half of the United States. Since the 2013 split of the conference along football lines, the tournament has been conducted by a separate non-football conference and allowed to maintain the Big East name. Butler, Creighton, and Xavier joined the conference along with the remaining seven holdovers: DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St.Johns, Seton Hall, and Villanova. The 10-team tournament is held for 4 days in March and is played in a bracketed system with 4 stages: First Round, Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Championship game. The winner of the tournament receives an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.