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Next April, Indy will serve as host city for the NCAA Men’s Final Four. That will mark the ninth time Indianapolis will have hosted the Final Four (1980, 1991, 1997, 2000, 2006 at the RCA Dome and 2010, 2015, 2021, 2026 at Lucas Oil Stadium). And a city first, Indy will also host NCAA Division II, Division III and NIT men’s basketball championship games during the same weekend. For a basketball-crazy state, next April will be nirvana.
Indy has become known for firsts, especially in the world of amateur sports. In 2021, for the first time ever, the entire NCAA March Madness basketball tournament was hosted in one place—Indianapolis (during the pandemic). Last year, an Olympic-size swimming pool was built inside Lucas Oil Stadium, the first time an NFL stadium played host to the U.S. Olympic Swim Team Trials (setting an attendance record for an indoor swim meet). And the catalyst for Indy’s sports vision, the Indiana Sports Corp., was the first nonprofit sports commission established in the nation when the late Jim Morris and other civic leaders formed it in 1979 as a vehicle to help fuel the city’s growth through sports.
The vision by city leaders to use sports as a community builder and economic driver has paid off handsomely for Indy. Since the NCAA decided in 1997 to move its headquarters from Kansas City to Indianapolis (with Jim Morris’ heavy involvement), Indy has hosted more Final Fours than any other city. The four-decade-long effort to make Indy into a world-class city using amateur sports as one of the vehicles has been a resounding success. According to the Sports Business Journal, Indy is now a top-five sports city in America.
It is this rich history of building community and opportunity through sports that makes the opportunity to serve as co-chair of the 2026 Men’s Final Four Local Organizing Committee so special. Each city that hosts a Final Four appoints a local organizing committee consisting of volunteers who work in coordination with the local sports corporation and the NCAA to ensure an outstanding athlete and fan experience, as well as coordinating legacy projects that will positively impact communities long after the champions are crowned.
Joined by Judith Thomas, president and CEO of Indy Arts Council (my fellow co-chair) and officials from the Indiana Sports Corp. and Lucas Oil Stadium, I just returned from San Antonio, Texas, for a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to successfully coordinate a Final Four. Final Fours are no longer just a few basketball games. They are an opportunity to improve communities through legacy projects such as Read to the Final Four, a statewide literacy challenge aimed at fostering a lifelong love of reading among third-grade students across Indiana. Another legacy project will provide funding for improvements to a local school’s sports facilities or library, along with school supplies for students.
Our local organizing committee’s goal is to set engagement records in reading through Read to the Final Four programming, as well as attendance records at all Final Four events, including Fan Fest, the March Madness Music Festival, Final Four Friday, the Final Four Dribble and the Final Four Tip-Off Tailgate. To achieve these goals, we will need many more volunteers. Sign up at indianasportscorp.org/volunteer to be a part of what makes Indy so special.•
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Feltman is publisher of IBJ and CEO of IBJ Media. Send comments to [email protected].
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