The NCAA is changing things up when it comes to how it holds national championship basketball games across divisions.
According to a post on the NCAA’s website, the national championships for Divisions I, II and III men’s and women’s basketball will be celebrated as combined championship events in Atlanta during the 2020 NCAA Men’s Final Four and in Dallas as part of the 2023 NCAA Women’s Final Four.
This will be just the second time that both men’s and women’s championship events for all three division will be held in the same city. Men’s basketball previously hosted combined championships in Atlanta in 2013, while the women crowned three national champions in the same venue in Indianapolis in 2016.
The NCAA has scheduled the 2020 Men’s Final Four for April 4 and 6 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, with the Division II and III championships decided April 5 at State Farm Arena.
The 2023 Women’s Final Four games will take place March 31 and April 2, with the Division II and III national championship games played April 1. All games will be at American Airlines Center in Dallas, which was the site of the 2017 Women’s Final Four.
“Conducting all three basketball championships in one city on the same weekend provides student-athletes from each division a unique experience,” said Dan Gavitt, the NCAA’s senior vice president of basketball. “We’re thrilled that our membership approved of doing this again, and we’re confident that this is going to be another huge success, both in Atlanta in 2020 and in Dallas with the three women’s championships in 2023.
“What struck me when we last did this in Atlanta in 2013 were the looks on the faces of the Division II and III student-athletes when they were introduced during the Final Four in front of 70,000 people. You could tell how special it was for them, their families and the fans of those schools to get that type of recognition,” Gavitt said. “Atlanta is an ideal setting for this, with venues that are walkable from each other and from downtown hotels and ancillary events.”
