Photo Credit: OHSAA
COLUMBUS, Ohio –The University of Dayton and the Ohio High School Athletic Association announced Monday that the OHSAA girls and boys basketball state tournaments will be hosted at UD Arena for the next three years. 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 and will hold a press conference at UD Arena Monday afternoon.
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 successfully hosted both the OHSAA girls and boys basketball state tournaments this past March.
“We are very excited that our student-athletes will get to play at UD Arena,” Ute said. “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 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. During the regular season, it is the home of the very successful University of Dayton Flyers women’s and men’s basketball teams.
UD Arena recently completed a transformation project that was the largest construction effort in the University’s history. It is regarded as one of the nation’s premier basketball facilities to go along with fan support that consistently ranks among the best in college basketball.
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 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. The 2021 OHSAA boys basketball state tournament was scheduled to be hosted at OSU’s St. John Arena, but the facility was unavailable due to the COVID-19 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.