NCAA selects more Final Four sites

INDIANAPOLIS – The men’s Final Four will return to two familiar stops – San Antonio in 2008 and Indianapolis in 2010.

The NCAA on Tuesday also selected Detroit’s Ford Field for the 2009 Final Four and Houston’s Reliant Stadium for 2011.

The selections of San Antonio and Indianapolis were no surprise. Indianapolis has been the host of Final Fours in 1980, 1991, 1997, 2000 and is now scheduled to have the event again in 2006 and 2010.

Tuesday’s selection, however, was the first since the NCAA moved its headquarters to Indianapolis in 1999. The RCA Dome in Indianapolis also has the women’s Final Four in 2005.

San Antonio was host to its first tournament in the Alamodome in 1998 and is to hold the event again in 2004 and 2008. It also was awarded the women’s Final Four in 2010.

Houston will be the Final Four’s host in 2011, on the 40th anniversary of the city’s first Final Four. The last time, the games were played in the Astrodome. This time, they will be played at Reliant Stadium.

The NCAA also selected Ford Field, home of the NFL’s Lions, for the 2009 Final Four even though no major nonfootball events have been held there since it opened last fall.

The NCAA also chose the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Fla., as the women’s host site in 2008 and St. Louis’ Edward Jones Dome host for the 2009 women’s tournament.