Wells Fargo Arena during the 2016 NCAA Tourney.
The NCAA announced today that Des Moines will host the first and second rounds of the 2019 Men’s Basketball Tournament at Wells Fargo Arena.
Drake University is the host school for 2019, which means Iowa State University, the University of Iowa and University of Northern Iowa basketball teams could play in Des Moines.
Des Moines hosted the men’s tournament for the first time ever in 2016, with ISU serving as the host school. Host schools cannot play at the site where they host, so they Cyclones played their first round games in Denver.
The Hawkeyes and Panthers also made the tournament in 2016, but were sent to different sites. Thousands of basketball fans from across the state took advantage of the opportunity to see the tournament in their home state in in 2016. And they got to see some top teams in that tournament as Kansas, Kentucky and Indiana were part of the field that played in Des Moines.