Cities advance to the next stage of consideration, with a final decision coming in July
Following their respective fall meetings, the Division I Men’s and Women’s Basketball Committees have each identified seven finalist cities to host the 2032-36 Final Fours.
In the months ahead, NCAA staff and committee members will continue evaluating the finalist cities through meetings, site visits and additional submitted materials. The selection process will culminate in July 2027, when representatives from each city will present to the committees during their summer meetings in Naples, Florida. Coming out of those meetings, the committees will formally announce the hosts for the 2032-36 Final Fours.
Finalist Cities To Host the 2032-36 Men’s Final Fours (Alphabetical Order)
- Denver
- Houston
- Indianapolis
- Kansas City, Kansas
- Las Vegas
- Nashville, Tennessee
- New Orleans
“We are grateful for the record number of cities that expressed interest in hosting the Men’s Final Four, which continues to be one of the world’s preeminent sporting events,” said Samford Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Martin Newton, who will serve as chair of the Division I Men’s Basketball Committee for the upcoming season. “Narrowing it down to seven cities to host during this five-year cycle was challenging for the committee. We have a terrific blend of experienced host cities and potential newcomers, each of which we are confident will demonstrate that their competition venue, hotels and infrastructure will deliver at the level our participating teams have come to expect at the Final Four.”
Kansas City, Missouri, currently holds the record for most championship games hosted, with 10, having staged the Final Four from 1953-55 and in 1957, 1961, 1964 and 1988, in addition to hosting the title game from 1940-42. Indianapolis will tie that mark in 2029 when it hosts its 10th Final Four. The city also hosted the event in 1980, 1991, 1997, 2000, 2006, 2010, 2015, 2021 and 2026.
New Orleans has been the site for six Final Fours (1982, 1987, 1993, 2003, 2012, 2022), while Houston has done so on four occasions (1971, 2011, 2016, 2023).
Denver hosted the 1990 Final Four, while Las Vegas will be home to the 2028 event. Nashville hopes to stage its first Men’s Final Four.
The 2027 Men’s Final Four will be in Detroit, while North Texas will host in 2030 and Atlanta will do so in 2031.
Finalist Cities To Host the 2032-36 Women’s Final Fours (Alphabetical Order)
- Detroit
- Indianapolis
- Las Vegas
- Minneapolis
- New Orleans
- Phoenix
- San Antonio
“The strong interest in hosting the Women’s Final Four reflects the championship’s stature as one of the premier events in sports, and the committee is grateful to every city that participated in the bid process,” said Liz Darger, senior associate athletics director and senior woman administrator at Brigham Young and chair of the Division I Women’s Basketball Committee. “The finalists selected to date demonstrated the infrastructure, competition venues, hotel accommodations and community support needed to deliver an exceptional championship experience. They also offer the committee an opportunity to thoughtfully assess how each city can support the Women’s Final Four’s continued growth, in areas such as competition venue options, and evolving future needs. We look forward to the next stage of the evaluation process and to learning more about each finalist.”
Indianapolis (2005, 2011, 2016), New Orleans (1991, 2004, 2013) and San Antonio (2002, 2010, 2021) have each hosted the Women’s Final Four three times. New Orleans was scheduled to host the event in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic led to its cancellation, while Indianapolis (2028) and San Antonio (2029) will each host the championship for a fourth time in the coming years.
Minneapolis (1995, 2022) is seeking to host for a third time, while Phoenix (2026) would serve as host for the second time. Detroit and Las Vegas would be first-time hosts.
Both committees discussed the possibility of hosting the Men’s and Women’s Final Fours at a single site on the same weekend. While neither committee currently supports pursuing a combined event, they have directed NCAA staff to study the feasibility of such an arrangement for 2037 or beyond. The committees will revisit the concept as the next bid cycle approaches, informed by the findings of that study.
