EVENT BIDS SPAN EIGHT DIFFERENT SPORTS AT VENUES ACROSS THE REGION

ST. LOUIS – February 22, 2024 – The St. Louis Sports Commission is aiming to bring several national championship events to the region through the NCAA’s quadrennial bid process, which solicited bids for preliminary round and finals sites for 88 of the NCAA’s 90 championships in academic years 2026-27 and 2027-28.  The Sports Commission partnered with five NCAA institutions and three venues to submit bids to host events in NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball, DI Men’s Ice Hockey, DI Women’s Basketball, DI Women’s Volleyball, DI Wrestling, DII Wrestling, Women’s Gymnastics, and Women’s Ice Hockey.  A full listing of the events and years bid for appears below:

In all, there were 261 NCAA Championships events open for bid between 2026 and 2028 across all NCAA-sponsored sports.  The events available for bid include preliminary round sites such as regionals and first/second rounds of tournaments.  All bids were due this month, and all event sites will be awarded and announced on October 2, 2024.  

“We are proud of all the work and effort that went into producing the NCAA championship bids on behalf of the region, and we’re grateful for the collaboration and cooperation from our conference, university, venue and civic partners,” said St. Louis Sports Commission President Marc Schreiber.  “This will be a challenging cycle with only two years of events up for bid and so many cities in the mix.  But for each event we’re pursuing, we’ve made a compelling case for St. Louis.  Time and time again, our community has proven to be an outstanding host for major sporting events.  We will continue that tradition with future NCAA championships and look forward to once again experiencing the excitement and impact they create.”

Since the Sports Commission’s inception, St. Louis has been awarded 41 NCAA championship events with a combined estimated economic impact of more than $500 million.  Of note, St. Louis has hosted the NCAA DI Wrestling Championships nine times, the DI Men’s Basketball Regional six times, two Women’s Final Fours, two Women’s Gymnastics Championships, the 2005 Men’s Final Four, and the Men’s and Women’s Frozen Fours once each – with the Men’s Frozen Four already slated to come back to the Gateway City in 2025.