Arch Madness is getting a serious makeover. The Missouri Valley Conference has voted to pull its women’s basketball tournament into St. Louis and package it with the men’s event in a single 10-team, four-day setup starting in 2027. Under the new format, the top two regular-season seeds skip straight to the semifinals, a tweak that changes how coaches manage rest and seeding in March. The women’s title chase will now be folded directly into the long-running Arch Madness weekend in downtown St. Louis.
As reported by WSMV, the MVC Board of Directors signed off on the plan on June 22 and framed it as a strategic move to grow the conference. MVC Commissioner Jeff Jackson told the station the board "believes this decision positions the Conference for continued growth," and called Arch Madness "one of the great brands in college basketball." According to the outlet, the combined men’s and women’s tournaments are scheduled for the week of March 3–7, 2027.
Where the women’s title was headed
This pivot wipes out a plan the league had already announced in April 2024. At that point, the Missouri Valley Conference had laid out a three-year rotation that would have sent the 2027 women’s championship to Vibrant Arena at The MARK in Moline, Ill. The earlier release, outlined by the Missouri Valley Conference, slotted the women’s event for March 11–14, 2027 as a stand-alone, neutral-site tournament. Under the board’s new approach, those games are being pulled into the March 3–7 Arch Madness week in St. Louis instead.
Arch Madness' St. Louis run
St. Louis is hardly new territory for the league. The MVC men’s tournament has called the city home since 1991, and the Enterprise Center already lists the State Farm MVC Tournament on its 2026 events calendar. The arena’s event page lays out session dates, ticket options and venue details for fans who treat Arch Madness like an annual holiday. Adding the women’s bracket into that same week is expected to create more sessions at the downtown arena and beef up the festival-style atmosphere that has grown around Arch Madness over the years.
Why the conference is changing things
In a statement to WSMV, Commissioner Jeff Jackson said, "This is about more than a tournament format," arguing that a unified event offers "a larger stage for our student-athletes" and added value for fans and partners. The board has cast the move as a growth play designed to raise the profile of both men’s and women’s basketball under the Arch Madness brand, rather than treating the tournaments as separate productions.
What fans should expect
The MVC says detailed session times, ticket packages and broadcast information will be rolled out in the coming months, but the dates fans will be circling are March 3–7, 2027 for the combined event. Historically, the MVC women’s title game has aired on ESPNU and ESPN2, with tournament games available on ESPN+, according to the Missouri Valley Conference’s release. Local hotels, travel outfits and downtown businesses that already count on an Arch Madness bump can likely plan for an even busier stretch in March 2027, when both championships converge on the same city for one extended hoops weekend under the Arch.
