NCAA: March Madness Will Return to Detroit

Before it has been built, the Detroit Red Wings arena has scored a major get: the second- and third-round games in the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, the Detroit Free Press reports.

The tournament comes to the arena, scheduled to be complete in 2017, on March 16 and 18, 2018. The University of Detroit Mercy will be the host school, according to The Detroit News.

“We’re thrilled, first of all, to be a part of the bid process, and we’re thrilled to have this event come to Detroit,” sad UDM athletic director Robert Vowels, “and with the great partners we have at the mayor’s office, Olympia Entertainment and the Detroit Sports Commission.”

The tournament has come to Detroit before. Ford Field, home of the Detroit Lions, hosted the NCAA Final Four in 2009.

Michigan State reached the national title game in 2009, and that was a factor in the NCAA’s nod to Detroit in 2018.

“The committee does try to move this thing around and expose it to different communities,” Dan Gavit, vice president of basketball operations for the NCAA, said. “But first and foremost on this committee’s mind is the experience of the student athletes, and a huge component is having a full arena and getting that excitement that comes with March Madness and the NCAA Tournament.

Several other cities with yet-to-be completed arenas will be hosting March Madness games in 2018, Gavit said. There’s a backup plan should construction be delayed.

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Photo: Dennis Allain Renderings