The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has opened the bid process to host the 2021 through 2024 NAIA Men’s and Women’s Basketball National Championship Opening Round tournaments.
The NAIA will merge its two divisions of basketball to one on both the men’s and women’s sides beginning in the 2020-2021 season. With this, comes a new format, where both genders will have a 64-team national championship field with 16 opening round tournaments (each gender) of four teams apiece. The winners of each of these sites will advance to the final site in Sioux City, Iowa (women’s) and Kansas City, Mo. (men’s).
With this merger, the NAIA is seeking bids for hosts of the four-team opening round sites. Destination Marketing Organizations (DMO’s) may bid on one, four-team opening round, or multiple opening round tournaments. The rights fee for each opening round tournament is $12,500.
Bids may be for a single year for 2021, or for multiple years (up to four) through 2024. Priority will be given to proven basketball arena venues which have seating capacity of 3,500 to 7,500 and all modern digital scoreboard and signage within the facility. A more extensive list is available by request from the NAIA.
The NAIA will assist in matching DMO partners with NAIA conferences which may want to partner in producing the event and sharing costs.
Each opening round tournament spans two days and will bring-in four NAIA teams (per gender). Approximately 84 players and over 1,000 fans are expected in attendance.
Beyond the economic impact to the community, the NAIA gives the host significant opportunities to understand their full potential return on investment. The NAIA model transfers all revenue rights (ticket sales, sponsorship, rebates, etc.) to the winning bidder.
The deadline for bids to become a host for the NAIA Men’s and Women’s Basketball National Championship Opening Round is September 1, 2019.
For more information on becoming an NAIA Championship Host, click HERE!
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