St. Louis will be the host of back-to-back Midwest Regional rounds of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Tournament after the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee gave the Gateway City the thumbs up.

The newly completed Trans World Dome will be the site of the Midwest Regional of the 1999 NCAA Tournament. St. Louis will hold the Midwest Regional rounds at the at the Trans World Dome March 18-20, 1999. Kiel Center is already the regional site for the 1998 tournament.

The announcement came from Missouri Valley Conference Commissioner Doug Elgin and NCAA director of the Division I Men’s Basketball Championship William Hancock at a press conference Thursday at the Trans World Dome.

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Hancock said he was pleased to make the announcement and that St. Louis could not be a better place to host the regional.

Congratulations to the Missouri Valley Conference and St. Louis on landing this event, he said. Having the ability to have beautiful basketball facilities makes St. Louis a better choice than 98 percent of other cities.

According to Hancock, St. Louis was one of 55 cities which bid on the 12 sites that will host the 1999 NCAA tournament.

Hancock also said granting of back-to-back regionals is an uncommon practice by the committee, but it is to the credit of St. Louis that the city be considered for it.

The committee no longer gives back-to-back awards to cities this is unusual in this day and age, he said. This shows the teamwork that a city like St. Louis has to be able to do this.

The Midwest Regional determines one of the teams that makes its way to the Final Four round of NCAA Tournament. In 1998, the Final Four site will be the Thunder Dome in St. Petersburg, Fla. and the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas will play host in 1999.

In order for St. Louis to be considered for the Final Four rounds, the city will have to meet certain criteria including a stadium with at least a 30,000 seat capacity, 7,400 first-class hotel rooms within a 10-15 mile radius to the stadium and good airport service. Kiel Center only has 20,000 seats, so the Trans World Dome with its 70,000-seat capacity seems to be the logical choice if the committee were to select St. Louis for the 2003 Final Four.

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