March Madness will begin in Wichita as city lands expanded NCAA tournament games
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Wichita will host expanded NCAA opening round games in 2027 and 2028.
- INTRUST Bank Arena will host three games each day over two days.
- Wichita and Dayton will each host opening games; Wichita's are March 16-17, 2027.
March Madness will begin in Wichita for the next two years.
The NCAA announced Thursday that Wichita has been selected as one of two host cities for the newly expanded opening round of the 2027 and 2028 Division I men’s basketball tournaments, bringing six games over two days to INTRUST Bank Arena each year.
Wichita will share opening duties with Dayton, Ohio, the longtime home of the tournament’s introductory games. Each city will host three games on the Tuesday and Wednesday following Selection Sunday.
The first Opening Round in Wichita is scheduled for March 16-17, 2027.
The selection gives Wichita a recurring and more prominent place on the March Madness calendar as the NCAA prepares to expand its tournament field from 68 to 76 teams. Instead of hosting first- and second-round games every few years, Wichita will become one of two gateways into the tournament during the first two years of its new format.
“We were pleased but not surprised by the number of cities from around the country that very much wanted March Madness to begin in their market,” Keith Gill, commissioner of the Sun Belt Conference and chair of the Division I Men’s Basketball Committee, said in a release. “Like Dayton, Wichita is a basketball-crazed community that we expect will embrace the reimagined start of the tournament.”
The NCAA began searching for an additional Opening Round host soon after approving expansion in May. Wichita was selected from several interested cities following the Men’s Basketball Committee’s annual meeting this week.
Its central location was one factor working in Wichita’s favor because the Opening Round participants will not be known until Selection Sunday, leaving teams little time to travel before playing two days later.
“Having a city in Middle America will be advantageous for getting teams from various points around the country, many of which won’t be known until Selection Sunday, to the Opening Round and subsequently first-round sites,” Gill said.
Wichita has an extensive history of hosting the NCAA tournament.
The city’s first tournament games were played at Levitt Arena, now Koch Arena, in 1956. The arena hosted 24 NCAA tournament games across eight tournaments through 1981.
Since opening in 2010, INTRUST Bank Arena has hosted both the men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments. The women’s tournament came to the arena for first- and second-round games in 2011, then returned in 2022 for the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight regional rounds.
On the men’s side, INTRUST Bank Arena hosted first- and second-round games in 2018, ending a 24-year absence for the men’s tournament in Wichita, and again in 2025.
The next chapter will be different.
Rather than welcoming teams already safely in the traditional 64-team bracket, Wichita will host programs fighting for the opportunity to advance into it.
The expanded opening round will feature the 12 lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers and the final 12 at-large teams selected for the tournament. Those 24 teams will play 12 games split between Wichita and Dayton, with the winners advancing to one of eight first-round sites.
The new format also creates a possibility that would have been prohibited under previous NCAA rules: Wichita State could play an NCAA tournament game in its hometown.
The committee voted this week to remove a provision that prevented a school from playing at a site where it was serving as a tournament host. That means if WSU is among the final at-large teams selected for the field in 2027 or 2028, the Shockers could potentially play their opening round game at INTRUST Bank Arena, provided the NCAA’s other bracketing principles are met.
Under the format approved this week, the automatic qualifiers will play six games involving No. 15 and No. 16 seeds. The final 12 at-large selections will be paired in six additional games.
The committee also will have the flexibility to move teams along the same seed line when possible to reduce travel demands between opening round and first-round sites.
Dayton has hosted the start of the NCAA tournament since 2001 and has become synonymous with the First Four. UD Arena has staged 145 NCAA tournament games, the most of any venue in tournament history.
Beginning in 2027, Dayton will no longer have the opening stage to itself.
For the first time in the tournament’s expanded era, the road to the Final Four will begin in two basketball communities — and one of them will be Wichita.
This story was originally published July 9, 2026 at 2:11 PM.
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