The NCAA men's basketball tournament will not be coming to Minneapolis before the 2019 Final Four after all. In recent years, Final Four cities have played host to an NCAA tournament regional final weekend the year before. That won't always be the case going forward, said Dan Gavitt, NCAA's vice president for the men's basketball championship.

When news broke Friday that Minneapolis was awarded the 2019 Final Four, many assumed the NCAA tournament "Sweet 16" weekend would be held in the future Vikings stadium in 2018.

"About a year ago, there was a requirement for a Final Four site to host a regional the year before," Gavitt said Monday. "It's no longer a requirement. It's an opportunity and a possibility, but not a requirement."

The 2018 regional final sites awarded Monday were Atlanta, Los Angeles, Boston and Omaha, Neb. Minneapolis could still host a basketball event of some kind to prep the facility before the 2019 Final Four, but that is to be determined.

"Many of these facilities, as we went through the Final Four site selection process, there was consideration given if a facility was planning on having another basketball event in the building prior to us being there for the Final Four," Gavitt said. "And there's also the possibility of going into these facilities in the summertime and having a kind of build-out of our seating system, and kind of going through some of the logistical challenges of hosting an event in these new facilities."

Phoenix, the 2017 Final Four host city, and San Antonio, the 2018 host, also were left out of the NCAA tournament mix the year before the event comes to town. Houston, the 2016 Final Four host, will host a regional final in 2015, but that was awarded prior to Monday's announcement. Indianapolis is the site of this coming April's Final Four, and that city played host to a regional last March. The NCAA has not yet announced regional sites for the 2019 tournament that will end in Minneapolis.

STAFF REPORTS