NCAA Releases Key Dates for 2022–2026 Bid Cycle

The NCAA has announced key bid dates for its upcoming bid cycle that will determine hosts for hundreds of championships from 2022–2026. During the upcoming bid process, the NCAA will be seeking hosts for 86 of its 90 championships over each of the four academic years from 2022–2033 through 2025–2026. Those championships will be administered across Divisions I, II and III.

The bid cycle is expected to open August 26, 2019, and conclude February 3, 2020. This will mark the third time the NCAA has opted to put the majority of its events out for bid at one time, a process that replaces the previous approach to award championships on a rolling basis.

This time around, the NCAA has hired 129 Sports LLC to serve as a consultant managing the effort. The company’s founder, Russ Yurk, has in-depth knowledge of the NCAA process having formerly worked for the association from 2006–2012. For information on the process, he can be reached at russ.yurk@att.net.

The following are key dates for host cities to be aware of:

August 26, 2019—Bid specifications will be published on ncaa.org/bids and the bid portal will open

September 18, 2019—Host bid cycle symposium will be held at the NCAA national office in Indianapolis

November 2019—NCAA will provide an update on the bidding process at TEAMS ’19 in Anaheim, California

February 3, 2020—Bid responses due

March-September 2020—Committee deliberations, recommendations and approvals

October 23, 2020—Hosts/sites announced