First Four staying in Dayton through 2028

DAYTON — The NCAA’s First Four for the Division I men’s basketball tournament is staying in Dayton

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The NCAA announced on Wednesday that the First Four will remain at the University of Dayton Arena through 2028, where it has been held since 2001. UD Arena was already set to be the host through 2026.

“Our region is uniquely qualified to continue our long-standing and successful partnership with the NCAA, and we are excited that partnership yields another extension of the NCAA First Four,” UD Vice-President and Director of Athletics Neil Sullivan said.

UD Arena has hosted more NCAA men’s Division I men’s basketball tournament games than any other venue in the country with 137. The extension will take the arena’s total past 150 games.

“It’s over $5 million economic impact to the arena. So it’s no small event and doing that, you got eight teams that come in here for a short period of time and fans... but we have a strong local base,” Scott Debolt, executive director of UD Arena said.

Debolt said they also bid on getting the first and second rounds of the tournament to be played at UD Arena in addition to the First Four — but the competition is tough.

UD fans said they would love to see that happen.