Listen to the podcast
 

Wichita's credentials as a basketball city and Wichita State's hoop history paid off on Thursday in a major way.

INTRUST Bank Arena will host the Opening Round of the NCAA Tournament in March 2027 and 2028. Wichita State senior associate athletic director Brad Pittman joins the podcast to discuss the timeline, the process and what this means for the city.

Wichita and Dayton will host three games each day on the Tuesday and Wednesday after Selection Sunday. The tournament expanded to 76 teams from 68 and Wichita is the beneficiary.

The Opening Round of the 2027 championship will take place March 16 and 17 and will feature the 12 lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers and the 12 lowest-seeded at-large teams.

Wichita's hosting history dates to the 1956 tournament, when the first round of the Midwest Regional was played at Levitt Arena, which eventually staged 24 tournament games over eight tournaments through 1981. The Kansas Coliseum hosted first- and second-round games in 1994, while INTRUST Bank Arena did the same in 2018 and 2025.