Boys, girls state tourneys to stay at University of Dayton

“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.” — OHSAA Executive Director Doug Ute

Folks who plan to travel to the boys and girls state basketball tournaments the next few seasons need to extend their trips beyond Columbus and now to Dayton.

Last season, the city of Dayton and the University of Dayton replaced Columbus and Ohio State as the hosts of the boys tournament because of the novel coronavirus. Before last season, a deal was already in place for Dayton and UD Arena to be the home of the girls state tournament in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

On May 3, the Ohio High School Athletic Association announced the boys and girls state tournaments will remain in Dayton through 2024. The deal replaces the previous one for the girls state tournament.

“We are very excited that our student-athletes will get to play at UD Arena,” said Ohio High School Athletic Association Executive Director Doug Ute. “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.”

UD Arena has a rich history with March Madness, and it has hosted 125 NCAA basketball tournament games. That’s the most of any facility in the country.

Prior to its move to UD Arena in March, the girls state tournament had been hosted by Ohio State every year since it inaugural state tournament in 1976, except in 1986 when it was hosted by the University of Akron.

The boys 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 set to be played 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.

“We are very excited to host the state tournaments at UD Arena,” said Dayton Senior Associated Athletic Director Scott DeBolt said. “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.”

UD Arena, home of the Dayton Flyers’ men’s and women’s basketball teams, was renovated in 2019. It 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.