The Big Ten men’s and women’s basketball tournaments will move out west in the future, as the conference announced on Wednesday that the men’s tournament will be played at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena in 2028, with the women heading to the Sin City in 2027.
The move likely accounts for the conference’s recent additions of west coast teams Oregon, Washington, UCLA and USC starting this academic season, which Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti said could allow the Big Ten to expand its footprint across the United States, with conference tournaments included.
“I think you’ll begin to see us expand,” Petitti said at Big Ten Media Days last week. “I think it’s important to make sure that markets around the country get to experience Big Ten championships. It’s a really good way to connect the conference. I think over time you’ll start to see the geographic footprint expand, keeping in mind competitive issues.”
The Big Ten also announced that both the men’s and women’s tournaments will take place at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in 2025, which will go from March 5-9 and be the first to feature a truncated 15-team field — meaning the bottom three teams in the standings will not be eligible to participate — following conference expansion.
This will be the 27th time the women’s tournament will be in Indianapolis, while it is the 14th time the men will compete.
The women will stay in Indianapolis in 2026, but the men will move to the central time zone to Chicago, where the games will be played at the United Center.
This will be the 12th time Chicago has hosted the men’s tournament, with the last one occurring during the 2022-23 season. Last season’s tournament was held in Minneapolis’ Target Center.
While the women’s tournament will take place in Las Vegas for the first time in 2027, the men will return east to Indianapolis before playing at T-Mobile Arena in 2028. The women’s tournament will be held that year at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, marking the first time the city will host a Big Ten men’s or women’s tournament.
