The NCAA has awarded four NCAA Division II Championships events to Clarion University, in conjunction with SportsPittsburgh, to be held over three years from 2023-26.
Clarion will serve as the host institution for each of the following NCAA Championship events from 2023-26. The event venues are also listed.
- 2023 NCAA Division II Volleyball Championship Finals (UPMC Events Center – Moon Township, Pa.)
- 2025 NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Championship Elite Eight (UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse – Pittsburgh, Pa.)
- 2026 NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Championship Elite Eight (UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse – Pittsburgh, Pa.)
- 2026 NCAA Division II Basketball Festival – Men's and Women's Basketball Championships (UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse – Pittsburgh, Pa.)
"We are honored and thrilled with the NCAA's decision to name Clarion a host institution for these prestigious championship events," said Clarion director of intercollegiate athletics Dr. Wendy Snodgrass. "It is representative of the hard work and commitment from everyone in our athletics department and across campus, and gives us the opportunity to showcase our institution on a national stage.
"I would like to thank Dana Kramers, Brady Inners and all of the staff at SportsPittsburgh for their advocacy and promotion of the strong athletic tradition of western Pennsylvania," Snodgrass said. "This successful bid would have not have been possible without their dedication and passion."
Clarion most recently served as a championship host at the 2018 NCAA Division II Fall Festival, where they managed the national championships for women's volleyball as well as men's and women's soccer.
This is the third time for this specific NCAA championship bid process, which created the largest host site announcement ever, spanning 86 championships across a four-year cycle. Previously, selection announcements varied by sport. This process now gives the NCAA and host sites more time to plan each championship experience.
Bidding for 86 of 90 NCAA championships began in August 2019 and more than 3,000 bid applications were ultimately submitted. Each sport committee, per division, selected the host sites it believed would provide the ultimate experience for the respective student-athletes, resulting in more than 450 total championship event sites being awarded. More than 54,000 student-athletes compete in NCAA championships each year. The four championships not included in the process due to preexisting site arrangements are: Division I baseball, Division I football, Division I softball and Division III women's ice hockey.