The NCAA® Division I Men’s Basketball Committee announced that San Antonio will be the site for the 2018 NCAA® Men’s Final Four®. San Antonio was one of eight cities vying for the marquee event in 2017-2020 cycle, including Atlanta, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, New Orleans, North Texas, Phoenix/Glendale, and St. Louis. San Antonio has hosted three Men’s Final Four’s, the last one in 2008.
“This is great news and I want to thank the NCAA for selecting San Antonio as a site for the Men’s Final Four and confirming that San Antonio is one of the best cities in the nation—if not the best city—for hosting a Final Four. I want to thank and commend the hard work of the San Antonio Local Organizing Committee which includes UTSA, San Antonio Sports and our City staff. Once again, all that makes San Antonio special will be showcased across the country and around the world,” said San Antonio Mayor Ivy R. Taylor.
“NCAA fans love coming to San Antonio for this marquee event and our city has the perfect setup for all the Final Four has to offer,” said San Antonio Sports President & CEO Russ Bookbinder. “We look forward to hosting an outstanding event that is so much more than a basketball game.”
Based on the 2014 Men’s Final Four held in North Texas, the event is expected to have an economic impact of $85 million. It will be held in an Alamodome which will undergo extensive upgrades, including expanded concourses and improved interior technology, with a seating capacity of up to 72,000.
“We are proud to welcome back the NCAA Men’s Final Four to San Antonio. The Alamodome, San Antonio’s world-class facility, is already home to UTSA’s Roadrunner football and the Valero Alamo Bowl, and with our planned improvements will be the perfect setting for premier sporting events such as the Final Four,” said San Antonio City Manager Sheryl Sculley.
San Antonio has hosted three previous Men’s Final Fours (1998, 2004, 2008), two Women’s Final Fours (2002, 2010) and two Women’s Division I Volleyball Championship (2005, 2011). Today’s announcement culminated more than a year of planning, meetings, facility diagrams, renderings, bid books, presentations and a site visit. San Antonio’s bid committee, including key members of San Antonio Sports, UTSA, the Convention & Visitors Bureau, Alamodome and the City’s Sports & Convention Facilities Department, traveled to the NCAA® headquarters on Nov. 12 for their final presentation to the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee.
“We’re very excited that we have another opportunity to host the Final Four here in San Antonio. This means a tremendous amount to our university and to the visibility of UTSA,” said UTSA Athletic Director Lynn Hickey. “San Antonio is a great site for this event and the NCAA Tournament in general, and we are honored to be the host institution for one of the best sporting events in the nation. The San Antonio Local Organizing Committee is an excellent collaboration of hard-working and committed people. The City has made an outstanding commitment to upgrade the Alamodome, and when you put all of the other things that we have — the proximity of our hotels to the facility, the River Walk, the staff that knows how to run this tournament well — it’s just a win-win. It’s well deserved and we will do a great job as hosts.”