Indy to host upcoming Big Ten basketball tournaments
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indianapolis is adding several major sporting events to its schedule for the next couple of years.
The Indiana Sports Corp announced Wednesday that The Big Ten Conference has picked Indianapolis to be its host for four upcoming Big Ten Women’s and Men’s Basketball Tournaments.
The 2025 TIAA Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament is set for March 5 – 9, followed shortly after by the 2025 TIAA Men’s Basketball Tournament from March 12- 16.
Indianapolis will host the women’s tournament — and the Men’s Final Four — in 2026. The men’s tournament will return to the Circle City in 2027.
Both tournaments will take place at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, and will be the first to feature a 15-team field from the 18-team conference following the additions of Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington earlier this summer.
Indianapolis has an extensive history of hosting both the Big Ten Women’s and Men’s Basketball Tournaments, according to the Indiana Sports Corp. The Circle City has “previously hosted the Women’s Tournament 27 times and the Men’s Tournament 13 times, each most recently in 2022,” they said in a release.
Patrick Talty, Indiana Sports Corp president, says the partnership to host the tournaments will continue the city’s “storied tradition of Big Ten basketball while working to further enhance the tournament experience for the member institutions, student-athletes, coaches, and fans.”
The announcement comes after the conference said Indianapolis would host the football championship until 2028.
“Just phenomenal for the city, especially coming off of last week’s news about football,” Dan Giliot, director of marketing and communications at Indiana Sports Corp. said. “The Big Ten is here to stay and we’re really excited about that.”
The move is also set to bring in cash for the city.
“Anytime we get to host a large scale sporting event, like Big Ten football, Big Ten basketball, that means the hotels are filling up, the restaurants, the bars,” Gilot said. “Both with last week’s announcement with the football championship at Lucas Oil Stadium through 2028, and these basketball championships, through the life of that partnership, we’re looking at about $150 million of economic impact for the city.”
Ticket sales for each tournament will be announced at a later date.