The IHSA Board of Directors will hold a virtual board meeting on Monday to vote on state basketball hosting bids. There are two sites in the running for each of the Illinois high school boys and girls state finals. The Peoria Civic Center and Redbird Arena in Normal are vying for the girls finals. The Civic Center and State Farm Center in Champaign are the two arenas that want to host the boys finals. Redbird Arena has been the site for the girls championship game since 1991. For the first time in 77 years, the boys tournament moved from Champaign to Peoria’s Civic Center in 1996. The boys played at the Assembly Hall, now called the State Farm Center in Champaign, for the first time in 1963.
IHSA Executive Director, Craig Anderson said, “The IHSA Board of Directors will deliberate and vote on the host venues for the IHSA Girls and Boys Basketball State Final Tournaments for 2021-2023 when they meet on Monday, June 15, 2020. It had initially been my intention to hold off on making a decision on host venues until the IHSA Board of Directors were able to meet again in person. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to impact our timeline, we have reached a juncture where we believe it will become detrimental to the potential host venue or venues, as well as our staff, if we continue to wait any longer. Monday’s Board meeting will be conducted remotely via a video conference call. We appreciate the patience of everyone involved in this process.”
