The NCAA announced on Monday that March Madness would happen in 2021. However, the entire tournament will be played in one location due to coronavirus. The league is in talks with Indianapolis as its host city.
Usually played at locations across the country, the original plan was that 67 games of next season’s tournament would be played at 13 different sites. According to the Associated Press, those sites included Dayton, New York, Minneapolis, Denver, and Memphis.
With the spike in COVID-19 cases across the country, the NCAA decided to take a page from the playbook of other sports leagues who chose to play in an environment-controlled bubble for their post-season.
“It will be a very controlled environment,” said NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt. “It’ll be different, it’ll be historic, and it’ll be hopefully something we all treasure and experience just once, hopefully not ever again.”
The NCAA season is set to kick off on November 25, even though schools have struggled to fill schedules with multiple basketball programs on hold due to the pandemic. The NCAA Tournament is still currently scheduled to be played in March and April.
The women’s basketball committee has not decided yet on how the women’s tournament will be handled.
