:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/54319367/usa_today_9994968.0.jpg)
The NCAA Tournament will be back in Spokane in 2020 for the first and second rounds of March Madness, the NCAA revealed today.
2020 #MarchMadness sites
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) April 18, 2017
First Four: Dayton
1st/2nd Rounds
Albany
Cleveland
St. Louis
Omaha
Greensboro
Tampa
Sacramento
Spokane#NCAAHost
The NCAA Tournament was last in the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena in 2016, hosted by the University of Idaho. For a basketball crazed city with a perennial top 25 team, any year the tournament is in Spokane is a good thing.
There is a chance that Gonzaga could be playing in its backyard in 2020, because the University of Idaho is considered the host school. The team that hosts the tournament games is not allowed to play at their location, but Gonzaga has avoided this problem. Idaho hosted in 2016, and Washington State University hosted in 2014.
In 2021, the closest regional to Spokane is in Boise, Idaho, and in 2022, the tournament will return to Portland, Oregon. The tournament will also be in Seattle in 2019.
The NCAA also announced the national championship sites for three years. In 2020, the NCAA Tournament will culminate in Atlanta, in 2021 it will be in Indianapolis, and in 2022 it will be in New Orleans.
Here is a list of all the host sites.