NCAA officials announced on Oct. 14 that St. Joe’s will host first and second round games in the 2026 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
St. Joe’s will partner with the City of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau (PHLCVB) and its PHL Sports Division to host the event, according to an Oct. 14 announcement made from SJU Athletics.
“Saint Joseph’s is honored by the selection to host the 2026 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship First and Second Rounds in Philadelphia,” said Director of athletics Jill Bodensteiner, J.D., in a press release. “Philadelphia and St. Joe’s have passionate and storied histories of college basketball, and we’re thrilled for this opportunity to showcase that rich basketball tradition with the current spirit of the collegiate game.”
In every NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, or March Madness, eight cities serve as host to the First and Second Rounds. At each First and Second Round site, eight teams compete in two separate groups of four based on the region they are seeded in, and each plays a First Round contest. The four winning teams move on to the Second Round in the Field of 32, and two teams advance to the Sweet 16, which is played the following week at a different tournament host city.
St. Joe’s last hosted the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship First and Second Rounds in 2009 at the Wells Fargo Center, at which Villanova University won the first two games of its Final Four run.
In 2024, the Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is set to host the First and Second Rounds at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, and A-10 member Duquesne University and the organization SportsPittsburgh are slated for the First and Second Rounds at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.
Since 2011, A-10 member University of Dayton has hosted The First Four of the NCAA tournament, a set of two play-in games to advance to the First and Second Rounds, at University of Dayton Arena, according to announcements made by the NCAA.
Other Big 5 teams were made hosts of NCAA tournaments in a range of different sports. University of Pennsylvania will serve as the host institution for the 2025 Division I Wrestling Championships, Temple University will serve as hosts for the 2023 Women’s Rowing Championships at the Cooper River in Pennsauken and Drexel University will host the 2023 and 2024 Division I, II and III lacrosse finals at Lincoln Financial Field, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
