Knight Eady will work with the NCAA and respective city, member institution and conference partners on several NCAA championships awarded to Birmingham, Alabama and Fort Worth, Texas for the 2023-2026 bid cycle. The Knight Eady team collaborated with each respective partner to prepare and submit bids for men’s and women’s basketball and women’s gymnastics.

Birmingham will host the first and second round of the NCAA Tournament for Division I men’s basketball in 2023 and the Division I women’s basketball southern regional in 2025 at the newly renovated BJCC. The NCAA’s announcement marks the first time for the NCAA Tournament in Birmingham since 2008 for men’s basketball. It will be the first time ever for the women’s tournament to come to Birmingham. The decision to return March Madness to Birmingham follows a collaborative effort by the city of Birmingham, BJCC, Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau, Knight Eady and the Southeastern Conference.

“Bringing NCAA Division I men’s and women’s basketball to Birmingham has been part of Knight Eady’s vision since we started the company,” said David Knight, President of Operations for Knight Eady. Our team is thrilled to work alongside our team of partners in Birmingham to host two of the NCAA’s most prestigious tournaments. We look forward to working together to create an exceptional event experience for the teams, sponsors and fans who will visit our great city.”

Fort Worth was also awarded four years of NCAA National Collegiate Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Championships in 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026. This will position Fort Worth as host for NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships for eight straight years. Fort Worth hosted the NCAA Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Championship in 2015, 2016 and 2019 and was previously awarded the 2021 and 2022 Championships set to be held at Dickies Arena. The 2019 NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championship at the Fort Worth Convention Center broke single-session and overall attendance records for the last five years. The Fort Worth Sports Commission, Texas Woman’s University, Knight Eady and Dickies Arena have worked in a close partnership for the past five years to secure the NCAA National Collegiate Women’s Gymnastics Championships to Fort Worth.