INDIANAPOLIS---Six cities that have hosted the NCAA Men�s Final Four this decade, and two more that are scheduled to host in the next three years, are among the 10 prospective hosts that submitted bids for the 2012-16 Men�s Final Fours today. Finalists will be determined in August, and five cities will be awarded the event in November.

Recent Final Four host cities Atlanta, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, New Orleans, St. Louis and San Antonio are joined by 2009 host Detroit and 2011 host Houston, as well as Dallas and Phoenix, as cities attempting to put together a winning bid.

"We couldn�t be more pleased with the efforts that the people representing these great cities and host institutions and conferences have put forth to this point," said Tom O�Connor, assistant vice president and director of athletics at George Mason University, and chair of the NCAA Division I Men�s Basketball Committee. "The work involved with putting together a bid is extensive, and clearly all parties involved are putting their best foot forward. Cumulatively over the span of these bid years, an estimated five million people will attend the tournaments in person and nearly one billion viewers will watch the championships on television. The NCAA Men�s Final Four continues to be one America�s greatest sporting events."

After submitting a declaration of intent to bid last November, representatives of each city attended a bid introduction meeting in January, before meeting with the NCAA for individual planning and progress updates at the Men�s Final Four in April and again in June. Over the next several weeks, NCAA staff will compile and analyze information for members of the NCAA Division I Men�s Basketball Committee.

"The one-on-one meetings with each city were extremely beneficial, for both the prospective hosts and for the committee," said O�Connor. "As a committee, and working with the NCAA staff, we were able to check their progress and stay involved with the process. We stay in constant communication with everyone as they all have questions that are unique to their city, and now we feel as though we are in a great position to start analyzing the bids."

After finalists are determined in August, site visits to each city will be conducted in September and October, prior to the final presentations and announcement of awards scheduled in November.

Cities that submitted bids for the 2012-16 Men�s Final Fours include:

City, State	Facility	Host(s)	City�s Men�s Final Four Hosting History
Atlanta, GA	Georgia Dome	Georgia Institute of Technology	1977, 2002, 2007
North Texas (Arlington/ Dallas/ Ft. Worth)	Dallas Cowboys New Stadium	Big 12	1986
Detroit, MI	Ford Field	Mid-American Conference	2009
Houston, TX	Reliant Stadium	University of Houston, Rice University	1971, 2011
Indianapolis, IN	Lucas Oil Stadium	Butler University, Horizon League, IUPUI	1980, 1991, 1997, 2000, 2006, 2010
Minneapolis, MN	HHH Metrodome	University of Minnesota	1992, 2001
New Orleans, LA	Louisiana Superdome	Tulane University	1982, 1987,1993, 2003
Phoenix, AZ	University of Phoenix Stadium	Arizona State University	N/A
San Antonio, TX	Alamodome	University of Texas at San Antonio	1998, 2004, 2008
St. Louis, MO	Edward Jones Dome	St. Louis University	1973, 1978, 2005

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