Back in Jax: ASUN moves conference basketball tournaments to VyStar Veterans Arena
March NCAA basketball will return to Jacksonville when the ASUN brings its men's and women's conference basketball tournaments to the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena beginning in 2026.
The conference, which moved its headquarters from Atlanta to Jacksonville in September of 2024, announced the move on Wednesday. It's the first time the ASUN men and women have played at a neutral site since 2013, when both tournaments were in Macon, Ga., and it is the first time since an NCAA regional in 2019 that post-season college basketball will be at the VyStar Arena.
The winner of the ASUN tournaments gets an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.
'The decision to move the tournaments to Jacksonville represents a significant milestone for the ASUN and underscores the city's growing reputation as a premier destination for major sporting events,' said ASUN commissioner Jeff Bacon in a statement.
Bacon said a multi-year deal is in the works but he anticipates the two tournaments being in Jacksonville indefinitely and said in the statement, "Jacksonville's passion for sports, alongside its outstanding facilities and hospitality, will create an incredible experience for our student-athletes and fans.'
Bacon told the Times-Union that the backing of the Jacksonville city government and business community was vital to deciding to move the tournaments to Duval.
"It's part of the reason we came here [moving the ASUN headquarters to Jacksonville]," he said. "We feel confident that the city council, the mayor, and Visit Jacksonville are 100 percent committed to making this a successful tournament. We're still getting to know and learn the Jacksonville sports community but it's out there, a growing city in a growing county, with a lot of great sports fans."
Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan said in a statement that the city looked forward to hosting 24 teams and officials, parties and fans that may push the number of visitors into the thousands.
'I am proud that Jacksonville has been selected to host the ASUN Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments,' Deegan said in her statement 'We look forward to welcoming the many student-athletes, families, coaches, and fans to our city. The ASUN Tournaments are another shining example of Jacksonville's fast growth and why we're a fantastic place to visit. I am grateful for the significant economic impact that will be brought to our community, and to all those who worked so hard to bring it here.'
Michael Corrigan, President and CEO of Visit Jacksonville, said the decision was another dose of good news from the ASUN, six months after the conference moved to the city.
'For the second time in as many years, we're ecstatic to be part of an announcement about the Atlantic Sun Conference moving something to Jacksonville,' Corrigan said in a statement.
Jacksonville is the only city with two ASUN members, the University of North Florida and Jacksonville University.
The rest of the ASUN members are Florida Gulf Coast (Fort Myers), Stetson (DeLand), Lipscomb (Nashville), Bellarmine (Louisville), North Alabama (Florence), Eastern Kentucky (Richmond, Ky.), Austin Peay (Clarksville, Tenn.) Central Arkansas (Conway), West Georgia (Carrollton) and Queens (Charlotte). Stetson is the oldest current member, while Jacksonville entered in 1998-99 and North Florida in 2005-06.
West Georgia and Queens are the newest members. Past ASUN members have included Central Florida, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, and Mercer.
Before the campus-site format, the ASUN frequently rotated its men's and women's tournaments at neutral sites. Depending on the conference membership at the time, the tournament was played in cities such as Atlanta, Orlando, Nashville, Charleston, S.C., Little Rock, Ark., Houston and Shreveport, La.
Jacksonville hosted the 1999 and 2000 ASUN men's tournament, won both years by Samford over UCF in the championship game. Jacksonville has never hosted the ASUN women's tournament.
Since 2014, the conference tournaments have been played on campus sites, with the four highest-seeded teams hosting games and the bracket re-seeded to ensure each additional game went to the home court of the higher-seeded team.
And not every team made the tournament. The top 10 of the 12 teams qualified in the past two years. All 12 teams will play in the conference tournament starting next year, although options such as a double-bye for the top two seeds are under study.
First-round games will be played at UNF Arena or JU's Swisher Gym. Teams also will utilize those arenas and JU's Basketball Performance Center for practice.
The move met with enthusiastic approval by both the JU and UNF athletic directors.
"Most of the country does neutral-site tournaments and I have been a proponent of that for a long time," said Alex Ricker-Gilbert of JU. "While there is something to be said for the atmosphere you can get from playing at campus sites, and our game [on Monday] against Eastern Kentucky is a great example, going to a neutral site at a place like the Vystar Arena creates more of a championship-type experience for the student-athletes."
UNF athletic director Nick Morrow said bringing 24 teams with more than 300 players, plus staff, parents and boosters, will be another economic boost for the First Coast.
"It's tremendous for the city of Jacksonville and with UNF and JU as member institutions and the ASUN headquarters here, it makes a lot of sense," Morrow said. "Jacksonville is a destination and to play downtown will be a great experience for the student-athletes and bring economic impact and national TV to the area."
Ricker-Gilbert also pointed out that it will be easier for fans of all ASUN teams to travel. Under the current format, many fans didn't know the site of their first-round games until a few days before the start of the tournament.
While the ASUN footprint contains large cities such as Jacksonville, Nashville and Louisville, it also has smaller towns such as Florence, Ala., Conway, Ark., and Clarksville, Tenn., where travel is difficult on short notice.
"I think this is going to allow more fans a chance to travel to the tournament, because everyone's going to know right now, a year in advance, that it's going to be in Jacksonville," Ricker-Gilbert said.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: ASUN's basketball tournaments will be held in Jacksonville in 2026
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