The Iowa High School Athletic Association and Iowa State University announced today that the Boy’s State Basketball Tournament will be moving to Hilton Coliseum in Ames starting in 2027.
The tournament has been held in Des Moines at Vets Auditorium or Wells Fargo Arena since 1963. IHSAA executive director Tom Keating says the decision came out of their normal review of tournaments and sites. “You know, a couple of years ago, we reached out to Iowa, Iowa State, Drake, etcetera, and just kind of getting a little feel for, would they ever be interested? And at that time, scheduling was the biggest challenge. And so it didn’t look like it was ever going to come to fruition,” Keating says. Keating says they revisited Hilton Coliseum five or six months ago, as some things changed and it worked out to make the move. “We always are looking for a way to invigorate our state events and to, you know, bring some excitement to it and we just thought maybe it was a good time to try to infuse some energy,” he says.
Keating praised the staff at Wells Fargo Arena and their association with them. He says it’s a much bigger facility than Hilton.”It’s not built simply for basketball, and it’s been great while we were there. But it is big, you know, and it’s also, you know, something that there’s nothing wrong with it. It’s just pretty big. And we thought Hilton was a little bit more of an intimate venue, a little bit more basketball friendly. And we thought, why not? Let’s, let’s see what the options are,” he says.
Moving the boy’s basketball tournament in 2027 will coincide with the opening of the CyTown district being developed at the Iowa State Center. “For us that was a big piece of this is that, you know, our fans will have, you know, places to eat, places to stay right there. The parking is right next to the arena, and, you know, and we just feel like it had the things that we needed if we were going to bring it there,” Keating says.
The boy’s tourney has been in Ames before at the ISU State Gym from 1917 to 1922. It was last held at State Gym in 1926, and Keating says it’s exciting to return to Ames and hold the tourney at Hilton. “It’s a basketball place and it doesn’t hurt that Iowa State basketball is pretty exciting right now. So there’s a there’s a lot of energy around Ames and Iowa State,” Keating says.
The boy’s state tournament moved around to several locations, including the University of Iowa and Drake fieldhouses, and the West Gym on the UNI campus, before taking up residence at Vets Auditorium. The contract to hold the tournament in Ames is for 5 years through 2032.