TEAMS ’26 Winner Spotlight: NCAA Men’s Final Four

The annual TEAMS Conference & Expo, held October 26—29 in Birmingham, Alabama, included the annual SportsTravel Awards, which honors the events, venues and hosts that define excellence and drive the business of sports forward. Six awards were up for grabs: Best Amateur Sports Event; Best Collegiate Sports Event; Best Professional Sports Event; Best New Sports Event; Best New or Renovated Venue; and Best Sports Host City. In this series, we will highlight the individual winners of each category. 

When a new home for the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts was being built between 2005 and 2008, city and team leaders allowed the NCAA to be part of its discussions, and with good reason. Not only was the NCAA a neighbor whose headquarters are less than two miles away, it was also a likely future collaborator for one of the most significant events on the America sporting calendar.

Sure enough, the Division I men’s basketball Final Four came home to Indianapolis in 2010, just two years after the venue opened. It returned in 2015, then again in 2021 when the entire tournament was relocated to Indy because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and then again in 2026, when a stellar performance behind the scenes helped earn the Final Four this year’s SportsTravel Award for Best Collegiate Sports Event. The relationships among the city, the venue and the NCAA laid the foundation for an award that was two decades in the making.

“You always want to make sure it goes off well here, and the bar is always set so high in Indy,” said L.J. Wright, managing director for men’s basketball championships at the NCAA. “When it’s in your own backyard you want it to be the absolute best, and that puts a little more pressure on us.”

Much like the four teams that successfully navigated the Road to the Final Four last March and made it to Indianapolis, the NCAA handled that pressure just fine. It delivered $400 million in estimated economic impact, up from $329 million in 2015. More than 70,000 fans packed into Lucas Oil Stadium for the three games, including 70,720 for Michigan’s 69-63 win over Connecticut in the national championship game on April 6. In addition, there were more than 14,000 fans at the Division II, Division III and NIT championship games at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on April 5.

Activations were central to the fan experience, and they likewise drew huge crowds: a record 86,519 for Fan Fest at the Indiana Convention Center; 73,394 for the March Madness Music Festival that included Twenty One Pilots, Zac Brown Band and Post Malone; and 59,696 for the Tip-Off Tailgate on Georgia Street. The NCAA also found time for an additional local touch: recognizing the 50th anniversary of the sport’s last undefeated team: the 1975-76 Indiana Hoosiers, who went 32-0 under late coach Bobby Knight.

RELATED: Check out all the winners at this year’s SportsTravel Awards

‘A Servant Role’

“We’re in a servant role,” said Martin Newton, the Samford athletic director who served as vice chair of the men’s basketball committee last season. “I go into every one of them and think it’s the greatest sporting event in the world, I really do. It gets a little better each year and that goes to the commitment each city makes.”

The Final Four capped a sprint to the finish for Wright and the NCAA staff, which meet monthly with the host city starting in June and works with architecture design firm Populous to help “stay organized and make sure all the pieces come together seamlessly,” including designing and managing the student sections that bring a true college basketball atmosphere to a cavernous arena.

For nearly 40 years, the conclusion of each year’s tournament has been the playing of “One Shining Moment,” and that anthem is just as significant to Wright and Newton as it is to the victorious team on stage.

“You look around and go, wow this is pretty amazing,” said Newton. “I hold back tears regardless of whether my team won it or not. It encapsulates all the work that’s taken place not only by the committee and staff but the teams and the student-athletes.”

For Wright, this year’s Final Four had an added bonus. His 32-year-old son, Isaac, is the event manager at Lucas Oil Stadium, and served as the point person for the NCAA on the Final Four. Said the proud father, “Having that was really a special thing for me.”