Des Moines selected as a host of the 2028 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball First and Second Rounds at Wells Fargo Arena

The NCAA announced via ncaa.com on Wednesday that Des Moines was selected as a first/second round site for the 2028 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament.

This will be the fourth time that Des Moines has hosted the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball First and Second Rounds at Wells Fargo Arena after hosting successful events in 2016, 2019 and 2023. Years available during this bid cycle were 2027 – 2028.

For the fourth time in its history, the NCAA conducted a comprehensive site selection process, putting most of its championships up for bid simultaneously.

The Association chose over 240 host sites for preliminary and final rounds of predetermined championships across Divisions I, II and III, primarily for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 seasons. This cycle marked a shift from a four-year to a two-year site selection process.

The NCAA received more than 1,200 bids from member schools, conferences, cities and sports commissions across 47 states and Washington, D.C., all competing to host predetermined rounds for 87 of the NCAA’s 90 championships. The respective NCAA sports committees selected the sites, with final approval from the divisional competition oversight and championships committees.

“The enthusiasm and interest from around the country to host NCAA championships continues to be a testament to the quality of our events,” said Lynda Tealer, NCAA senior vice president of championships. “For this cycle we incorporated more data into the process to help our sport and oversight committees through the evaluation and selection of sites as we had so many quality venues and locations looking to host during these two seasons. We will continue to evaluate and gather feedback on going from the traditional four-year cycle to awarding championship bids for two years to determine the right cadence for the bid process in the future.”