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Gonzaga Basketball

Report: MGM Grand to host Pac-12 basketball tournament through 2027-28 season

The Michigan Wolverines and the Gonzaga Bulldogs stand on the court as Lorena Peril, host of the “Fantasy” show at Luxor Hotel & Casino, sings the United States national anthem before the championship game of the 2025 Players Era Championship basketball tournament at MGM Grand Garden Arena on November 26, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Getty Images)
By Theo Lawson theol@spokesman.com(509) 459-5584

The branding on the court will look different, but everything else – destination, venue, format – should be familiar for Gonzaga next spring when the Bulldogs make their debut at the Pac-12 basketball tournament.

For at least the next two seasons, Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena will host Gonzaga, Washington State and seven other men’s and women’s teams joining the revamped Pac-12 after the conference signed a two-year contract with the venue, according to CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein.

Both tournaments will be held from March 9-13, with women’s games preceding men’s games each day, The Oregonian reported Tuesday.

The Pac-12 format should be easy to follow for fans that watched Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference Tournament over the last handful of years. Similar to the WCC model, the Pac-12’s top two seeds will earn double byes into the semifinal round, according to Rothstein. The third and fourth seeds will receive a bye to the quarterfinals.

The teams seeded Nos. 8 and 9 will play on the opening day of the tournament, with the winner moving on to face the No. 5 seed, per The Oregonian. The No. 6 and 7 seeds will also face off in the second round.

Gonzaga earned a No. 1 or 2 seed every year since the WCC adopted the double-bye format and appeared in every championship game since 1998.

Although the Zags are moving out of the Orleans Arena – the venue that’s hosted every WCC Tournament since 2009 – they also have a level of familiarity with the Grand Garden Arena, which is attached to the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino on Las Vegas’ popular Strip.

Mark Few’s team played at the MGM venue as recently as last year at the Players Era Festival, winning games against Alabama and Maryland before losing in the championship to eventual national champion Michigan. The Zags played one other time at the Grand Garden Arena, beating USC 89-76 in 2023-24 as part of the Legends of Basketball Las Vegas Invitational.

The Grand Garden Arena briefly hosted the Pac-12 Men’s Tournament from 2013-16, between stints in Los Angeles at the Staples Center (2002-12) and Vegas at T-Mobile Arena (2017-24). The Pac-12 held its women’s tournament at Grand Garden Arena in 2019 and 2024.

The WSU men failed to win a game at the Grand Garden Arena, going 0-4 against Washington, Stanford, California and Colorado during the tournament’s stint there.