First Niagara Center Awarded NCAA Division I Men's Basketball 1st & 2nd Rounds in 2017
MAAC Sports
EDISON, N.J. – The MAAC along with Canisius College and Niagara University have been named NCAA Championship co-hosts for the 2017 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball First and Second Rounds at the First Niagara Center in Buffalo, N.Y. It will be the sixth time since 2000 that Buffalo serves as a host city.
In March, 2014, the MAAC served as co-host of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship second and third rounds at the First Niagara Center in Buffalo, along with league members Canisius and Niagara. The site sold over 57,000 tickets for the three sessions—the highest total of any second and third round site that year.
The MAAC has a long history of serving as co-host of a wide variety of NCAA Championships; from the Division I Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Regionals on six occasions, to the 2003 NCAA Division I Frozen Four with the nation’s top four men’s ice hockey teams. Iona and Manhattan joined the MAAC as co-hosts of the Cross Country Regionals, while Canisius and Niagara were co-hosts with the MAAC for the Frozen Four.
Most recently, the MAAC along with Iona College and Manhattan College served as hosts for the 2014 NCAA Division I Northeast Cross Country Regional at Van Cortlandt Park in Bronx, N.Y. In 2011, the MAAC teamed up with Rider University to host a sold-out NCAA Division I Men’s Wrestling Championship at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pa. The MAAC has also hosted the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championships preliminary and regional rounds in Albany, with Siena serving as the co-host, on two occasions and will again team up with Siena College to host the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Regional at the Times Union Center.
Three times since 2006 the MAAC has served as co-host of the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championships Regionals, twice at Trenton, N.J. with Rider as the co-host, and once in Bridgeport, Conn., teaming with Fairfield.
The MAAC has also been the co-host for two NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, in 2002 in Albany with Siena, and 2011, in Philadelphia, with Rider as the co-host. The MAAC and Rider also teamed to co-host the 2012 NCAA Divisions I, II and III Rowing Championships at Lake Mercer in West Windsor. N.J.