DAYTON, Ohio — The Ohio High School Athletic Association and University of Dayton announced Monday morning that the OHSAA girls and boys basketball state tournaments will be hosted at UD Arena for the next three years.
The agreement includes tournaments held from 2022 through 2024.
UD Arena had already been announced as the home of the OHSAA girls basketball state tournament for 2021, 2022 and 2023, but the new agreement for the girls and boys basketball state tournaments in 2022, 2023 and 2024 replaces that previous contract. UD Arena hosted the state tournaments this past March.
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Doug Ute, OHSAA Executive Director, and Scott DeBolt, Senior Associate Athletics Director at the University of Dayton and Executive Director of UD Arena made the announcement Monday morning.
"We are very excited that our student-athletes will get to play at UD Arena,” Ute said in a statement. “Even with the pandemic limiting what all could take place at the state tournaments last March, our schools still had a great experience at UD Arena, and UD made it very clear that they wanted to host both the girls and boys state tournaments moving forward. We know that the support for basketball in Southwest Ohio is very strong and UD wants to be the home of the state tournaments.”
Having hosted 125 NCAA basketball tournament games, UD Arena has been the home court for March Madness more than any other facility in the country.
“We are very excited to host the state tournaments at UD Arena,” DeBolt said in a statement. “In addition to our love of the Dayton Flyers, we are so proud to host many great events here, including the NCAA First Four, and we are pleased and grateful to welcome the OHSAA girls and boys basketball state tournaments to UD Arena. Our community will support the state tournaments just like our other events and this will be a special place for the teams, schools and communities that reach the state tournaments.”
Renovated in 2019, UD Arena has a seating capacity of 13,000 and has played host to many OHSAA basketball district and regional tournament games, along with Atlantic 10 Conference and NCAA tournament games.
UD Arena hosted the boys and girls state tournaments this past March. This past season was the first time since 1987 that the boys state basketball tournament was played at UD Arena.
In May 2020, the OHSAA announcedthe University of Dayton would host the OHSAA girls basketball state tournaments in 2021, 2022 and 2023, but the COVID-19 pandemic put the location of the 2021 state tournament in question due to spectator limitations and costs associated with the tournament.
Prior to its move to UD Arena in March, the OHSAA girls basketball state tournament had been hosted by The Ohio State University every year since it inaugural state tournament in 1976, except in 1986 when it was hosted by the University of Akron
The 2021 OHSAA boys basketball state tournament was scheduled to be held at St. John Arena at The Ohio State University, but that facility was not available due to the pandemic. The OHSAA did not have a contract in place with OSU for the boys basketball state tournament beyond the 2021 agreement that was voided.
The OHSAA boys basketball state tournament had been hosted by OSU every year since 1957, except for 1986 and 1987 when it was hosted at UD Arena.
