NCAA Announces 240 Championship Host Sites for 2027, 2028
Florida leads way with 22 championships
Posted On: October 2, 2024 By :The NCAA has announced over 240 host sites for preliminary and final rounds of championship tournaments across all three divisions, the first time it has named hosts over a two-year selection cycle instead of a four-year cycle. Florida will host the most events — 22 NCAA championship events for the 2026–2027 and 2027–2028 seasons.
Forty states plus the District of Columbia were selected to host at least one NCAA event. After Florida, Pennsylvania and Texas are tied for second with 20, while California and North Carolina totaled 17. The NCAA says it received more than 1,200 bids overall.
SportsPittsburgh said it won the most NCAA events of any one bid city with eight in total: “All eyes continue to be on Pittsburgh as a top destination for sporting events,” said Jerad Bachar, president and chief executive officer of VisitPITTSBURGH. “The team pulled together an extensive bid portfolio last year and what makes our proposals stand out is the strong focus and support of our local community. We’re fortunate to have strong partnerships across the Pittsburgh Bid Committee and we’re excited to continue our collaboration to bring these events to life.”
The NCAA awarded bids for 87 of its 90 championships. 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.
“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. “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.”
Women’s Basketball
The NCAA Division I Women’s Tournament will again have two mega-regional sites in 2027 and 2028, continuing the format that was started in 2023. 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 host its first regional since 2011 and fifth overall; the Wells Fargo Center also hosted the 2000 Women’s Final Four. Portland will return to hosting regional play for the fourth time 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.”
The Division II Elite Eight in 2027 and 2028 will be in Fort Wayne, Indiana, with the Division III finals in 2027 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and the 2028 Division III semifinals in Salem, Virginia. In 2028, the Divisions II and III championship games will take place in Indianapolis during the Women’s Final Four.
Women’s Volleyball
The Division I 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, with the event returning to Columbus, Ohio, in 2027 for the first time since 2021. The Division II finals in 2026 will be part of the DII Championships Festival in Kansas City before heading to Jacksonville, Florida, in 2027 while the Division III finals will be in Pittsburgh in 2026 and Glen Allen, Virginia, in 2027.
“We are thrilled Jacksonville was awarded these tournaments and look forward to welcoming fans, friends and family for the events,” said Michael Corrigan, president and chief executive officer of Visit Jacksonville and President of the Jacksonville Sports Foundation. “We look forward to the opportunity to continue working with the NCAA to bring more events to Florida’s Championship City.”
Men’s Basketball
Two of the most frequent hosts in Division I men’s history remain in this two-year rotation. Kansas City will host 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.
Early-round sites in 2027 will be Charlotte; Pittsburgh; Minneapolis; Omaha, Nebraska; Louisville; Fort Worth; Sacramento and Spokane, Washington. Early-round sites in 2028 will be Brooklyn, Orlando, Columbus, Des Moines, Birmingham, Tulsa, Salt Lake City and Seattle.
“March Madness is the gold standard among regional sporting events and every time it comes to town our community shows up loud and proud,” said Catch Des Moines President and Chief Executive Officer Greg Edwards. “As a now four-time host, we’re no longer the underdog, because we’ve worked hard to build up an incredible resume. We don’t take anything for granted and I think that shows in how we roll out the blue carpet to make the teams feel welcome and to make sure our region is ready for its close-up.”
The Division II Elite Eight in 2027 and 2028 will be in Fort Wayne, Indiana, with Pittsburgh hosting the Division III finals at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse in both 2027 and 2028.
Women’s Gymnastics
Fort Worth will continue to be the host for the NCAA women’s gymnastics championships in 2027. The destination has hosted the past four championships and has hosted seven of the last nine national championships overall. The path to Fort Worth in 2027 will go through regionals in Raleigh, North Carolina; Fayetteville, Arkansas; Denver, Colorado; and Athens, Georgia.
The NCAA did not award the finals for 2028 and said it will do so at a later date. Regionals for that year will be in Auburn, Alabama; Gainesville, Florida; Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Salt Lake City, Utah.
Frozen Four
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 Washington, D.C., for the first time since 2009 and the second time in the more than 75-year history of the Men’s Frozen Four.
“We are honored to welcome the 2027 NCAA Men’s Frozen Four to Capital One Arena,” said Jordan Silberman, president, venues at Monumental Sports & Entertainment. “As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Capitals this season, this is the perfect time to announce this prestigious event that will be enjoyed by generations of passionate hockey fans in the national capital region.”
The 2027 Division I regionals will be in Bridgeport, Connecticut; Loveland, Colorado; Springfield, Massachusetts and Fargo, North Dakota. Fargo will host a regional in 2028 along with Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Allentown, Pennsylvania; and Rochester, New York.
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 Division III women’s championship will be in Plattsburgh, New York, in 2027.
Other Highlights
- 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. Wrestling will be in Minneapolis one year after it is held in 2027 at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis. “It’s a huge win for Downtown St. Louis and for our region to secure one of the NCAA’s highest-profile and most impactful events,” said St. Louis Sports Commission President Marc Schreiber. “This does not happen without the investment that has been made to improve Enterprise Center and the presence and support of outstanding partners, including the Blues and University of Missouri, which we are grateful to have as our co-host.”
- 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 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 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.
- 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.
- The Division I Field Hockey Championships in 2026 will go to Louisville, Kentucky, before heading to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in 2027.
- The Palm Beach County Sports Commission won bids for the 2027 Division I Women’s Golf Regional, 2027 Division II Men’s Golf Championships, and 2028 Division I Men’s Golf Regional at PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens. “The Palm Beaches are thrilled to once again welcome collegiate golf’s premier athletes back to the region,” said George Linley, Executive Director of the Palm Beach County Sports Commission. “The support of our Sports Commission along with the continued partnership of our hospitality and business community has helped The Palm Beaches win the rights to host these premier tournaments that will bring a significant boost to the local economy.”
- The USTA National Campus will host the 2027 NCAA DI Men’s and Women’s Tennis Singles and Doubles Championships and the 2028 NCAA DI Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships. The USTA National Campus has also committed to host the 2025 NCAA DI Men’s and Women’s Tennis Singles and Doubles Championships next fall. The campus most recently hosted the 2023 NCAA DI, DII, and DIII Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships.