St. Louis loses out as NCAA awards Final Four cities for 2017-21

The Final Four will not be played in Missouri in the near future.

Host cities for the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament semifinals and finals from 2017-21 were announced on Friday, and St. Louis’ bid was not accepted.

The winners, starting in 2017: Glendale, Ariz.; San Antonio; Minneapolis; Atlanta and Indianapolis.

Kansas City and the Sprint Center have submitted bids for the earlier rounds of the men’s and women’s NCAA Tournaments from 2016-18.

Sprint Center last held a Division I men’s regional in 2013, four games in the round of 64 and two in the round of 32. The women played regional semifinals and a final at the Sprint Center in 2010.

St. Louis was looking to become a men’s Final Four destination for the first time since 2005. Asked if the unrest in nearby Ferguson was a possible factor in its exclusion, St. Louis Sports Commission president Chris Roseman said the topic never was addressed during the bid process.

“We never had a question or concern about that,” Roseman said. “It never came into play.”

Among the winning bids was one new site: Glendale, Ariz. The Final Four will be played at University of Phoenix Stadium. It will mark the first time since the 1995 event in Seattle that the Final Four will be played in the West.

The Final Fours in Minneapolis and Atlanta will be played in buildings currently under construction.

The other finalists besides St. Louis were North Texas (AT&T Stadium in Arlington) and New Orleans.

Future men’s Final Fours

*under construction

This story was originally published November 14, 2014 at 6:16 PM with the headline "St. Louis loses out as NCAA awards Final Four cities for 2017-21."