DENVER — The NCAA announced on Wednesday more than 240 host site selections for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 seasons.
The University of Denver (DU) was awarded three NCAA postseason events including the 2028 NCAA Frozen Four.
The 2028 Frozen Four men's hockey finals will be hosted by DU at the United Center in Chicago, not Ball Arena in Denver, the NCAA announced.
DU was also awarded the 2027 NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Regional at Blue Arena in Loveland and the 2027 NCAA Women's Gymnastics Regional in Magness Arena in Denver.
"It is a distinct honor any time your institution is awarded the hosting of a national championship event," said DU Vice Chancellor for Athletics and Ritchie Center Operations Josh Berlo.
"I want to thank our partners at the United Center, the Chicago Sports Commission and Blue Arena in Loveland for playing such a meaningful and supportive role in the bid process. We are excited about the opportunity to bring two more NCAA Regional events to our fans in Colorado, and for the opportunity to showcase our University to the country at the 2028 NCAA Frozen Four in Chicago, home to many of our alumni and host of our eighth hockey national championship in 2017."
DU said ticket information will be announced at a later date.
“The enthusiasm and interest from around the country to host NCAA championships continues to be a testament to the quality of our events,” said Lynda Tealer, NCAA senior vice president of championships. “For this cycle, we incorporated more data into the process to help our sport and oversight committees through the evaluation and selection of sites as we had so many quality venues and locations looking to host during these two seasons. We will continue to evaluate and gather feedback on going from the traditional four-year cycle to awarding championship bids for two years to determine the right cadence for the bid process in the future.”
The NCAA also announced Wednesday that the University of Dayton will continue to host college basketball's First Four through 2028, where it has served as the site for the start of the Division I men’s tournament since 2001.
“We are thrilled to bring the Division I Men’s Basketball Championship to so many terrific cities and hosts from all four corners of the country and points in between,” said JoAn Scott, the NCAA’s vice president of men’s basketball. “These 25 cities have previously been awarded the rights to host the tournament more than 300 times, accounting for more than 1,300 tournament games played in these locations. We appreciate all the work done locally to put together competitive bids, as well as the work everyone will do to ensure more special March Madness moments can take place in 2027 and 2028.”
