(This story has been updated to add new information.)
The Florida High School Athletic Association has selected Jacksonville’s UNF Arena as the host for the state basketball championships, marking a move from Lakeland for the first time in 30 years, the association announced in Sept. 17.
Cheered on by the Sandalwood High School band and the Baldwin Middle-Senior High School cheer squad, FHSAA executive director Craig Damon let out a “Duuuval” chant as Jacksonville officially welcomed Florida’s most prominent high school hoops event.
The three-year agreement through the end of the 2027-28 season marks an early success for the Jacksonville Sports Foundation, launched in May 2024.
The FHSAA last held basketball finals in Jacksonville in 1976 for boys, at the old Jacksonville Coliseum. No girls basketball final has ever occurred in the city.
Mayor Donna Deegan described the news as a “slam dunk” for Jacksonville.
FHSAA makes major move
For the FHSAA, Jacksonville represents a move away from Lakeland, where state finals had found a long-term home at the RP Funding Center since 1996. But Jacksonville’s bid, Damon said, was too strong to pass up.
“The ability to be at the University of North Florida and looking at their arena where it’s a Division I program there, that was huge,” Damon said.
Damon also pointed to the FHSAA’s relationship with UNF, which already holds the state track and field finals at Hodges Stadium.
“We knew what we were working with as far as the support of the school,” Damon said. “We’re seeing the city of Jacksonville and the Jacksonville Sports Foundation step up like, ‘What do we do to make this happen?'”
Championships in the rural class will take place Feb. 24-27, and Class 1A-7A final four games are scheduled from March 5-14, 2026. Following the procedure of recent years, Damon said the exact order of games, including which classes compete on which days, will remain to be determined at a later date depending on how the season unfolds.
Damon also cited the likelihood of strong local support, pointing out the number of Jacksonville-area schools to qualify for the final four during the past five years. Although no school from Jacksonville or a bordering county has won an FHSAA basketball championship since 2016 for boys (Bolles) or 2017 for girls (Ribault), teams including Ponte Vedra, Jackson, Impact Christian, Bishop Kenny and Providence have regularly punched tickets to Lakeland in recent years.
While UNF will hold the actual games, welcome receptions for the teams will take place at Florida State College at Jacksonville.
Damon said volleyball, soccer, softball, cheerleading and weightlifting are among sports up for new hosting decisions at the end of this year. Football is established for two more years at Florida International University, while he said the FHSAA has recently renewed deals for cross country (Tallahassee) and baseball (Fort Myers).
Busy start to March
Jacksonville’s
The high school basketball finals will join an exceptionally busy conclusion of winter on the First Coast.
On the menu for the Supreme Sunshine State Sports Smorgasbord: The Atlantic Sun (ASUN) Conference basketball championships at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, from March 3-9 for women and March 4-8 for men. The Gate River Run, the city’s annual 15-kilometer race through downtown, San Marco and St. Nicholas, on March 7. Competitive rounds of The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach from March 12-15.
Samantha Vance, executive director of the Jacksonville Sports Foundation,
Later in spring, Ironman Jacksonville is also coming to the city on May 16, 2026, with swimming in the St. Johns River and bicycling and running through multiple neighborhoods the city.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville to host FHSAA basketball state finals on same week as Players Championship
Reporting by Clayton Freeman, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
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