Down the road: University of Utah will host NCAA West Regional - at the Delta Center

The University of Utah will once again play host to March Madness — just not at the facility that has been the site of the second-most games in NCAA tournament history.

Salt Lake City will be the host city for the 2010 NCAA tournament West Regional, it was announced Thursday by the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee. The third- and fourth-round games will be played March 25 and 27 in 2010 at the Delta Center.

The University of Utah will still be the host for the event, though the games will be held at the 19,911-seat Delta Center instead of the Huntsman Center, which has a 15,000-seat capacity. The U.'s home arena has been the site of 81 NCAA tournament games since 1971, second only to Kansas City's Municipal Auditorium (83 games from 1940-64).

"We are always happy to host the NCAA tournament in Salt Lake City," Utah athletic director Chris Hill said.

According to a Deseret Morning News story from March, 2006, Utah officials submitted bids to host future NCAA tournament games at both sites. The hope was to host first- and second-round games in 2009 at the Huntsman Center in addition to regional games in 2010 at the Delta Center.

"We'd love that," U. tournament manager Steve Pyne said. "It would be the best of both worlds."

While the hope for games at the Huntsman Center in 2009 wasn't realized, Hill acknowledged in a news release Thursday that the university will seek to hold future tournament games at its on-campus arena.

"Our first interest is to host NCAA first- and second-round games in the Huntsman Center, and we will continue to pursue that in the coming years," Hill said. "However, we jumped at the first opportunity to bring the NCAA tournament back to Salt Lake City, which was as a regional host at the Delta Center in 2010."

If Utah is awarded future first- and second-round games, the Huntsman Center will top the list of arenas when it comes to most tournament games hosted.

"It's important to us," Pyne told the Deseret Morning News in March. "We take a lot of pride in it."

Most recently, the Huntsman Center was home to first- and second-round games for the 2006 NCAA tournament. Among the teams participating was Gonzaga, which featured No. 3 overall draft pick Adam Morrison.

Increasing interest by other cities and institutions to serve as tournament hosts has made the process of drawing the games much more competitive than in year's past. The Huntsman Center's lack of arena floor space for the media and a seating capacity for fans that cannot be easily expanded could lead to higher ticket prices if, and/or when the venue is used for the NCAA tournament again.

The Huntsman Center does not have the seating capacity to meet the current demands of a regional final.