Minnesota Making Bid For NCAA Final Four
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Six months after winning a bid to host the 2018 Super Bowl, Minnesota is making a bid for the NCAA Final Four.
In Indianapolis Tuesday, a state delegation will present a plan to hold the college basketball championships in 2019 or 2020. Minnesota is one of eight locations competing for a Final Four between 2017 and 2020.
"I'm cautiously optimistic," said Michele Kelm Helgen, the Chair of the Minnesota Sports Authority and member of the NCAA bid delegation. "But I think we're going to be competitive in what we have to offer."
The Final Four bid comes 13 years after the last Final Four in Minneapolis -- at the old Metrodome.
Unlike the Metrodome, the new stadium will seat 72,000 fans with better sight lines, a 2 and a half acre outdoor plaza and even four separate locker rooms specifically designed into the facility for the NCAA.
State officials say the Super Bowl and Final Four are not the last bids they intend to make. Next up: College football's national championship game.
"We're back in the mix," Kelm-Helgen said.
The NCAA will choose four cities to host four tournaments Friday.