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Spokane selected to host first, second rounds of 2027 NCAA men’s basketball tourney

The NCAA has selected Spokane to host first and second round games of the 2027 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. (Jesse Tinsley/Spokesman-Review)
By John Stucke johnst@spokesman.com(509) 459-5419

March Madness men’s basketball will return to Spokane in 2027.

Spokane Sports announced Wednesday that the Arena will host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament in 2027.

While championship basketball is the headliner, the organization tasked with bringing top-level athletic tournaments to the region’s growing collection of venues also announced two NCAA track and field championships and a Division I regional cross country meet at what will be a 60-acre course in Spokane Valley.

“We’re just thrilled to showcase the city and the facilities on the national stage,” said Anna Alsept, director of sports management for Spokane Sports. “It’s just a huge win.”

The newest additions to the 2027 lineup look like this:

  • March 2027: NCAA Division I men’s basketball first- and second-round games at the Arena. The University of Idaho is host.
  • March 2027: NCAA Division III men’s and women’s indoor track and field championships at the Podium. Whitworth University is listed as the host school.
  • November 2027: NCAA Division I men’s and women’s cross country regional at what is now called the Future Spokane Valley Cross Course. Gonzaga University is the host.
  • March 2028: NCAA Division II men’s and women’s indoor track and field championships at the Podium. The Great Northwest Athletic Conference, which includes schools such Central Washington University, is host.

Terry Gawlik, athletic director at the University of Idaho, noted that it will be the fourth time in six years Spokane has hosted either the men’s or women’s tournament.

The cross country regionals for Division I runners will be held on 60 acres on the north side of the Spokane River at Flora Road.

Mike Basinger, economic development director for the city of Spokane Valley, said work has started on the cross country course about a year after the Spokane Valley City Council approved the $7 million project.

“Our intent is to have the work complete in October 2025,” he said.

A formal groundbreaking for work on the course will be Oct. 16. The work is expected to take a year so that cross country runners will have a new venue for 5K, 6K, 8K and 10K races next fall.

After the contours of the new course are finished, crews will install acres of new sod that are being grown at Ray’s Turf Farm near Nine Mile Falls.

Basinger said hosting an NCAA Division I regional meet that will determine which collegiate athletes from the West Coast will compete in the national championships is just the sort of event Spokane Valley envisioned.

When cross country meets end in late fall, the course has been pitched as a cyclocross bike racing course.

Cyclocross racing is an amalgamation of road and mountain bike racing, and steeplechase racing.

The course was to be built on about 46 acres that Spokane Valley purchased from the Washington State Department of Transportation. The city then was able to fold in 16 additional acres from Washington State Parks.