PHOENIX – The NCAA has announced possible locations for the men’s and women’s Final Four basketball tournaments from 2032 to 2036, and the Valley is in the running for only one of them.

Cities being considered to host the men’s Final Four are Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Nashville and New Orleans.

Meanwhile, the sites vying to host the women’s Final Four are Phoenix, Detroit, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, New Orleans and San Antonio.

“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 Martin Newton, Samford vice president for Intercollegiate Athletics, 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.” 

Phoenix hosted the women’s Final Four in 2026 for the first time and could do so again in the next rotation. However,  the city has been excluded from hosting the men’s Final Four in the coming seasons, despite having previously hosted the tournament in 2017 and 2024. 

“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.” 

The Valley’s exclusion as a host finalist for the men’s tournament raises a bigger question about the future of large-scale sporting events potentially being held in Arizona’s capital. 

Outside of the Final Four, the Valley has hosted the Super Bowl four times, first in 1996 at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, followed by three NFL title games held at State Farm Stadium in Glendale in 2008, 2015 and 2023. Phoenix will also host the NBA All-Star game at Mortgage Matchup Center in February 2027. 

Although the Valley has proven to be a metropolitan area that can host multiple premier sporting events, other cities such as Los Angeles and Las Vegas have built completely new, state-of-the-art stadiums. Both cities are in a close proximity to Phoenix and may become preferred destinations for events in the future because of their infrastructure and modern facilities. 

SoFi Stadium in LA hosted the Super Bowl in 2022 and will host it again in February 2027. Vegas hosted its first Super Bowl in 2024 at Allegiant Stadium and is expected to host another in 2029.  

Despite the growing appeal of other cities, Phoenix mayor Kate Gallego is not concerned about the city being overlooked. 

“We feel like we are incredibly competitive with large scale sporting events,” Gallego said Wednesday at a press conference at the Collier Center in Phoenix. “For our region, we have been incredibly competitive. People on the national level have started calling us ‘Championship Valley’ because we do so many great mega events here. And I think the future is bright.” 

Despite her optimism, Las Vegas is quickly equalling Phoenix as a go-to sporting destination. 

Nevada did not have a big four professional sports team until 2017 when the Golden Knights joined the NHL as an expansion team. The Oakland Raiders relocated to Vegas in 2020, while the Athletics departed their longtime home in the East Bay and are expected to begin playing MLB games in a new Vegas stadium by 2028. Originally founded as the Utah Starzz, the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces relocated to Nevada in 2018. 

The NBA is actively working through the expansion process with Las Vegas and Seattle the leading candidates.

With three professional sports teams now calling Las Vegas home and a fourth potentially on the way, the city has established a growing presence outside of its tourism attractions, backed by modern stadiums and arenas capable of hosting major events. 

Even so, Kyle Hedstrom, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Arizona Sports and Events Alliance, still believes Phoenix will not be pushed aside.

“I think what’s happening is a continuing growth in competition,” Hedstrom said. “There used to be only 10 cities that could compete for a men’s Final Four and now I think they’re up to 14 or 15. So I don’t think we’re concerned necessarily but it’s good to be aware of the fact that the competition is growing and that means that we’re going to have to be more aggressive in how we pursue major events.” 

As other markets continue to invest in their sports infrastructure and expand their presence on the national stage, Phoenix will need to remain competitive to ensure Arizona continues to be a destination for major sporting events.

This article first appeared on Cronkite News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.