(NEWARK, NJ) -- The NCAA has selected Prudential Center, the world-class sports and entertainment venue located in downtown Newark, New Jersey, and host institution Seton Hall University to host the 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament East Regional. This event will mark the return of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament to Prudential Center for the first time since 2011, when No. 4 Kentucky defeated No. 2 North Carolina in the East Regional Final.
Opened in 2007, the state-of-the-art arena is the home of the Seton Hall University’s NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball program, National Hockey League’s (NHL) three-time Stanley Cup Champion New Jersey Devils and more than 175 concerts, family shows and special events each year. Prudential Center hosts over 2 million guests annually and boasts the largest in-arena scoreboard in the world, which is four stories tall and has 30 million pixels.
For only the third time in its history, the NCAA undertook a site selection process where most of its championships were put out for bid at the same time, which created the largest host site announcement ever, spanning 86 championships across a four-year cycle. Bidding for 86 of 90 NCAA championships began in August 2019 and more than 3,000 bid applications were ultimately submitted. Each sport committee, per division, selected the host sites it believed would provide the ultimate experience for the respective student-athletes, resulting in more than 450 total championship event sites being awarded. More than 54,000 student-athletes compete in NCAA championships each year.
“We are incredibly proud to host the 2025 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Regional at Prudential Center”, said Sean Saadeh, EVP of Entertainment at Prudential Center. “We look forward to partnering with the NCAA and our host school, Seton Hall University to showcase the incredible basketball talent which mirrors the rich sporting heritage of New Jersey and the Tri-State Region.”
Prudential Center recently ranked #8 (US) and #15 (worldwide) in Pollstar’s Top 200 Arenas Mid-Year Report. In 2019 and 2020, Prudential Center hosted numerous notable events including, the 2019 MTV VMAs, Cher, Elton John, Jennifer Lopez, Celine Dion, BLACKPINK, The Jonas Brothers, Fleetwood Mac, Shawn Mendes and many others. The arena is also home to the GRAMMY Museum Experience Prudential Center, which opened its doors to the public on October 2017. The 8,200-square-foot experience marks the first GRAMMY Museum outpost on the East Coast, and features a dynamic combination of educational programming and interactive permanent and traveling exhibits, including a spotlight on legendary GRAMMY winners from New Jersey.
Prudential Center is the world-class sports and entertainment venue located in downtown Newark, New Jersey. Opened in October 2007, the state-of-the-art arena is the home of the National Hockey League’s (NHL) three-time Stanley Cup Champion New Jersey Devils, Seton Hall University’s NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball program, and more than 175 concerts, family shows and special events each year. The arena is also home to the GRAMMY Museum Experience Prudential Center, which opened its doors to the public on October 2017. The 8,200-square-foot experience marks the first GRAMMY Museum outpost on the East Coast, and features a dynamic combination of educational programming and interactive permanent and traveling exhibits, including a spotlight on legendary GRAMMY winners from New Jersey. Ranked in the Top 8 nationally by Pollstar, Billboard and VenuesNow, Prudential Center is recognized as one of the premier venues in the United States, with over 2 million guests annually.
