NCAA tournament move means no March Madness at Raleigh’s PNC Arena in 2021
The NCAA’s decision to hold the entire 2021 NCAA men’s basketball tournament at one site, rather than using the 13 predetermined sites for regionals, sub-regionals and the Final Four, cost Raleigh a signature event on its sports calendar.
PNC Arena had been scheduled to house four first-round games on March 19 and two second-round games on March 21 with N.C. State serving as the host school.
That ended with Monday morning’s announcement that the NCAA is working toward holding the entire 68-team event in Indianapolis. That city, where the NCAA is headquartered, is already scheduled to host next year’s Final Four April 3-5.
“My committee colleagues and I did not come lightly to the difficult decision to relocate the preliminary rounds of the 2021 tournament, as we understand the disappointment 13 communities will feel to miss out on being part of March Madness next year,” Mitch Barnhart, chair of the Division I Men’s Basketball Committee and University of Kentucky athletics director, said in a statement. Kentucky was scheduled to host the first and second rounds at Rupp Arena in Lexington.
PNC Arena last hosted the NCAA men’s tournament in 2016 and was picked to host the first and second rounds again in 2025 last month when the NCAA announced host sites through 2026.
“It’s really disappointing but it’s not surprising,” said Scott Dupree, executive director of the Greater Raleigh Sports Alliance and chairman of the local organizing committee for the NCAA tournament games. “I felt, and a lot of people felt, it was inevitable. But it’s also the right thing to do. It makes perfect sense.”
Along with Raleigh and Lexington, the other 11 cities that had been planning to host were Dayton, Ohio, for the First Four; Providence, Rhode Island; Boise, Idaho; Detroit; Dallas; San Jose, California; and Wichita, Kansas, for first- and second-round games and Minneapolis; Denver; Memphis, Tennessee, and New York for the regional semifinals and finals.
Dupree said giving the 13 sites that are losing the opportunity to host this spring a do-over in 2027 is something he expects to pursue but has not yet been discussed. The NCAA is three or four years away from starting that process, having just completed one cycle.
“Before it’s time for another bid cycle, I do think it would make sense for these 13 cities to at least approach them and say, ‘What about putting 2021 into 2027?’ ” Dupree said. “Let me be clear: That hasn’t happened. But it does make sense. That’s something that will be seriously considered between now and then, when the time is right. That time isn’t right now.”
An NCAA spokesman said future bids for 2021 sites were not part of the committee’s discussions that led to concentrating this year’s tournament in one location but it could be taken under consideration in the future.
Staff writer Luke DeCock contributed to this report.
This story was originally published November 16, 2020 at 12:06 PM.