SOUTH KINGSTOWN — Six groups have expressed interest in hosting the Atlantic 10 men’s basketball tournament, beginning next season.

“We have choices,” said Bernadette McGlade, the conference’s new commissioner, who spent her day yesterday at the University of Rhode Island.

“We’ve made some changes in the tournament format, so we’ve extended the deadline (for bids),” the commissioner said. “Final submissions will be made in the next week.”

The conference will hold the basketball championship in Atlantic City, N.J. again this year, as it has for the past two seasons. A decision on where the event will go after that will be made early next year.

The conference had hoped to have final bids by now. However, it recently announced that it will revise the format next season. The changes include first-round games being played on campus sites; of three, rather than four days, at the host city; and the championship final being held a day later, on Selection Sunday, and televised by CBS.

“We had to extend the deadline to allow for everyone to readjust their bids with the new format,” McGlade said. “I’m not sure if that will change the number of final bids we will receive, but right now we’re happy with they way it is going.”

McGlade would not disclose which cities are involved, but she did say the process is structured so that bids may be made for one, two or three years. It is thought that Atlantic City is one of the cities involved.

The event has been well received by that city and fan reaction has been favorable. McGlade would not comment on her thoughts of keeping the tournament in Atlantic City other than to say she has visited Boardwalk Hall, where the tournament is held.

Changing the hoop tournament format was one of McGlade’s first major decisions with the conference. Deciding on a site for the event will be another.

She has been the conference commissioner for four months. She had spent her career in the Atlantic Coast Conference. She played basketball at the University of North Carolina, worked at Georgia Tech first as a coach and later an administrator, and had been with on the ACC staff for 11 years, the last nine as associate commissioner.

McGlade has served on numerous boards, including the selection committee for the NCAA women’s basketball tournament and on the NCAA Management Council.

Much of her time now is being spent becoming more familiar with the A-10’s 14 member schools.

“Once I took the job and got located in Philly (the conference offices are in Philadelphia) I made the decision to get out and to visit each of the campuses,” she said. “It has allowed me the opportunity to get a great feel for the league and for each school. It’s allowed me the chance to meet one-on-one with the presidents, the athletic directors, the staffs and the coaches.”

URI was 10th on her list. She spent the day yesterday attending an athletic department senior staff meeting, getting to know the staff, meeting with coaches and answering questions on how the conference operates.

“It’s been invaluable in helping me gather information for both the short-term and long-term direction of the conference,” McGlade said. “In order to do my job properly I have to get to know and understand each school and what is important for each school.”

“It has given me great perspective seeing how each campus functions,” she went on. “The schools in the conference are smaller than the schools in the ACC, but I’ve found there are a lot of similarities. The people have the same pride in their school, the same passion, the same desire to want great programs, to want their students to graduate, to want to have success in the league. . . I’ve found it very beneficial.”

There is some feeling that movement among conferences is likely in the near future because of TV contracts and because some conferences have grown large and spread out.

McGlade said she has seen nothing to indicate that any changes are needed in the A-10. While the conference now extends from the Atlantic Ocean to St. Louis, she does not see any problems with being spread out.

“Many conferences these days are similar,” she said.

“Every campus is unique,” she said. “It’s been a good experience getting to know our schools.”

McGlade took over for Linda Bruno, who was the commissioner from 1994 to this year.

pkenyon@projo.com