By Packy Moore

10/2/2024

More than 1,200 bids were submitted for preliminary rounds and finals of 87 championships

For the fourth time in its history, the NCAA conducted a comprehensive site selection process, putting most of its championships up for bid simultaneously.

The Association chose over 240 host sites for preliminary and final rounds of predetermined championships across Divisions I, II and III, primarily for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 seasons. This cycle marked a shift from a four-year to a two-year site selection process.

The NCAA received more than 1,200 bids from member schools, conferences, cities and sports commissions across 47 states and Washington, D.C., all competing to host predetermined rounds for 87 of the NCAA’s 90 championships. The respective NCAA sports committees selected the sites, with final approval from the divisional competition oversight and championships committees.

“The enthusiasm and interest from around the country to host NCAA championships continues to be a testament to the quality of our events,” said Lynda Tealer, NCAA senior vice president of championships. “For this cycle we incorporated more data into the process to help our sport and oversight committees through the evaluation and selection of sites as we had so many quality venues and locations looking to host during these two seasons. We will continue to evaluate and gather feedback on going from the traditional four-year cycle to awarding championship bids for two years to determine the right cadence for the bid process in the future.”

Division I baseball, Division I football and Division I softball were omitted from the process due to existing contracts for the Men’s College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska; Football Championship Subdivision Championship in Frisco, Texas; and the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City.

Forty states plus the District of Columbia were selected to host at least one NCAA championship event, with Florida garnering the most with 22. Pennsylvania and Texas are tied for second with 20, while California and North Carolina totaled 17.

The Division I Men’s Basketball Championship will stretch across the country hosted by 25 cities in 18 states for the 2027 and 2028 tournaments. Two of the most frequent hosts are in this two-year rotation. Kansas City is hosting the 2027 Midwest Regional, which will increase its total of 137 tournament games, currently tied for second all-time with Dayton, Ohio. The University of Dayton will continue to host the NCAA First Four through 2028, as it has served as the site for the start of the Division I men’s basketball tournament since 2001. University of Dayton Arena’s 137 men’s basketball tournament games are the most of any facility.

New York’s Madison Square Garden will host the 2027 East Regional, marking its 13th regional to tie Kansas City’s Municipal Auditorium as the most frequent regional host venue in tournament history. Frost Bank Center in San Antonio and Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles round out the 2027 regional hosts. In 2028, regional hosts are the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina; Little Caesars Arena in Detroit; American Airlines Center in Dallas; and Chase Center in San Francisco.

“We are thrilled to bring the Division I Men’s Basketball Championship to so many terrific cities and hosts from all four corners of the country and points in between,” said JoAn Scott, the NCAA’s vice president of men’s basketball. “These 25 cities have previously been awarded the rights to host the tournament more than 300 times, accounting for more than 1,300 tournament games played in these locations. We appreciate all the work done locally to put together competitive bids, as well as the work everyone will do to ensure more special March Madness moments can take place in 2027 and 2028.”

Another focus of the site selection is the announcement of the 2027 and 2028 regional sites for the Division I Women’s Basketball Championship. Two sites were chosen for each year, continuing the format shift adopted for the 2023 tournament. Las Vegas and Philadelphia will host in 2027, while Portland, Oregon, and Washington, D.C., will host in 2028. This will be the first time that the women’s basketball championship has been in Las Vegas since the 1991 West Regional and first time in Washington since 1997. It will be Washington’s first time serving as a regional host. Philadelphia will be hosting its first regional since 2011 and fifth overall, but it’s the first women’s basketball tournament action at the Wells Fargo Center since it hosted the 2000 Women’s Final Four. Portland will return to hosting regional play for the fourth time after drawing host duties in 2000, 2019 and 2024, in addition to being scheduled to host the 2030 Women’s Final Four.

“The selection of Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Portland, and Washington, D.C., to host the 2027 and 2028 regional championships underscores the remarkable growth of the Division I Women’s Basketball Championship,” said Lynn Holzman, vice president of women’s basketball. “These cities, recognized as epicenters of the sport, have a proven track record of hosting successful events and possess the necessary infrastructure to support the expanding championship and its two-site regional format. We extend our gratitude to all the bid cities for their participation and look forward to building further momentum for women’s basketball.”

A notable highlight of the bid selection process has a pair of Division I championships moving from arenas to stadiums. The Division I Wrestling Championships will make a second attempt in a professional football stadium at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis in 2028. The 2020 event was scheduled to be held at the same venue before being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship will head to San Antonio to play in the Alamodome in 2026, returning for the third time after a 15-year hiatus since the last visit in 2011.

Division II will hold both basketball Elite Eights at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum Arena in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 2027 and 2028. Division II football will remain in McKinney, Texas, where the championship game has been hosted every season since 2018. In addition, Division II will continue to host its National Championships Festivals, as the 2026 fall festival will be held in Kansas City, with the 2028 spring festival to be held in a yet-to-be-determined location.

The Stagg Bowl, Division III’s football championship game, will return to Salem, Virginia, where Salem Stadium will host the game for the 27th time in January 2027, while Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio, will host in 2028 for the third time. The Division III Men’s Basketball Championship will start a two-year residency at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse in Pittsburgh for 2027 and 2028, while women’s basketball will head to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 2027 and Salem in 2028.

The NCAA sports committees made the selections of host sites based on criteria that included the ability to create an outstanding experience for student-athletes, along with adherence to NCAA sport-specific bid specifications.

Specifications can include providing optimal facilities; ease of travel to the location; ample lodging; and adherence to NCAA principles, which include providing an atmosphere that is safe and respects the dignity of all attendees.

Other highlights of the championship sites include:

• In 2028, the Men’s Frozen Four returns to Chicago’s United Center for the second time. The event’s top two arena attendance records of 19,783 and 19,626 were set there in 2017. In 2027, it will return to the nation’s capital for the first time since 2009 and just the second time in the more than 75 year history of the Men’s Frozen Four. The Women’s Frozen Four will return to Duluth, Minnesota, for the fifth time in 2027 and makes its debut in Fairfield, Connecticut, in 2028. Duluth set the semifinal and championship game attendance records of 4,801 and 5,167 in 2003.
• The Divisions I, II and III Men’s Lacrosse Championships will take place in Philadelphia for the ninth time in 2027 at Lincoln Financial Field, while returning to Foxborough, Massachusetts, in 2028 for the seventh time at Gillette Stadium. The Division I Women’s Lacrosse Championship will return to Philadelphia’s Subaru Park in 2027 and 2028 after the venue hosted back-to-back in 2015 and 2016.
• The Division I Women’s College Cup will take place in Missouri for the first time when the new CPKC Stadium in Kansas City hosts in 2025, replacing the previously awarded bid to Sacramento. Men’s and Women’s College Cups will continue to take over Cary, North Carolina, returning in 2026 and 2027. WakeMed Soccer Park has hosted the College Cup 19 times since 2003 with 11 editions featuring the women and eight for the men and have upcoming hosting duties for both men and women in 2024 and men’s soccer in 2025.
• The Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California, will continue to host the Division I Men’s and Women’s Golf Championships through 2028. The events made their debut at the venue in 2024 and will also take place there in 2025 and 2026.
• Oregon will host the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships for the 23rd time in 2028, extending its record for hosting the event that first came to Hayward Field in 1962.
• After two years in California in 2025 and 2026, the National Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championship will return to its original home from 2016 to 2024 of Gulf Shores, Alabama, in 2027 and 2028.
• Speaking of volleyball, the National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Championship will award its title trophy for the first time in Las Vegas at the Orleans Arena in 2027 and 2028.

For the complete list of NCAA championship sites, click here

COURTESY NCAA COMMUNICATIONS