Arena allowed 10% capacity (1,340 fans) for A-10 title game, boys and girls state championships.

The University of Dayton worked for months to get permission from the state to allow more fans into UD Arena, submitting five variance requests since November.

On Tuesday, UD finally got approval from the Ohio Department of Health and the Montgomery County for 10% capacity, though the news was bittersweet for Dayton Flyers Athletic Director Neil Sullivan because it came too late for the Dayton men’s and women’s basketball teams, who played their final regular-season home games Friday and Saturday.

Sullivan pushed hard for approval last week and was disappointed the athletes didn’t get to see more than 300 fans at their games this season.

“I say it all the time, and it’s not cliché,” Sullivan said. “Of all the college basketball fan bases in the country, ours is one that has a deep relationship with the fans. The fans deeply care for the players, and it’s certainly sobering this year to be (at UD Arena) and not have that. The notes of support fans would send in, some of the history behind the fan cutouts, it was certainly heartwarming.”

UD Arena will host the Atlantic 10 Conference championship game on March 14, so the men’s team could play in front of a crowd of approximately 1,340 fans — the arena seats 13,407 — if it reaches the championship game. Sullivan said it’s up to the conference to decide how many fans it will permit to attend the game.

The approval of the variance request on Tuesday also resulted in the Ohio High School Athletic Association announcing it will bring the boys and girls basketball state championships to UD Arena in March.

UD Arena has been scheduled to host the girls state final four and championship games since last

May, though the status of that had been up in the air because of the questions about attendance. Now UD Arena will host the boys games, which were originally scheduled to take place at St. John Arena.

“We’ve had the girls games for the past year, and we were hoping to still do that,” said UD Arena director Scott DeBolt after the OHSAA announcement. “Just in talking to the OHSAA, we said if we can get this variance, we’re happy to host both. With no First Four,

it kind of opened things up for the girls and boys tournaments. We’re trying to do our part of the community and give these high school student-athletes an opportunity to finish out their seasons on a high note playing at UD.”

The girls state tournament will be held from March 11-13. The boys state tournament will take place a week later: March 19-21.

The times for both tournaments are the same. The semifinals will take place at 11 a.m., 2 p.m., 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. on March 11-12 and March 19-20. The championships will be held at 10:45 a.m., 2 p.m., 5:15 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on March 13 and 21.

The games will be played in this order: Division IV, III, II and I. The semifinals will be streamed on OHSAA.tv, while Spectrum News 1 will televise the semifinals.

“We are so excited that the University of Dayton has such a strong desire to host our basketball state tournaments and for all they did to receive a variance to allow more fans to attend,” said Doug Ute, OHSAA executive director, in a press release. “We thank the health department officials for their cooperation as we worked through this request and we are committed to following the safety protocols they have in place. Our schools have gone through so much since last March and we are thrilled that the season will culminate with the state tournaments at such a great venue as UD Arena.”

In all, UD Arena will host one college game and 24 high school games in an 11-day period.

The opportunity to host the A-10 championship came last week when the men’s tournament was moved up a week in March with the championship game remaining on Selection Sunday.

“I think it’s an important game for the league, and it’s an important game for college basketball,” Sullivan said. “It’s a championship game from a successful basketball league. When the opportunity presented itself, it doesn’t take long for me to share that we think we have a first-class venue that is good at hosting basketball games at every level, and it was an easy decision on my end.”

The game will be televised by CBS, giving Dayton its first chance to showcase the renovated arena on a network television.

“Network over-the-air TV has great reach,” Sullivan said, “and it leads up to the Selection Show on CBS. That’s important to us.”

It will mean even more if the Flyers can reach the game.

“The most important thing to us, more than hosting, is playing,” Sullivan said. “That’s obviously our goal.”