The Final Four selection committee visited various sites around the Valley the past couple days to see if the metro area is a good fit to host the NCAA’s premier winter event.

“There are a lot of reasons why this is attractive, you know," said Dan Gavitt, the NCAA’s Vice President for Men’s Basketball Championships. "Not just downtown Phoenix, but Glendale and Scottsdale and, you know, Tempe and the surrounding areas as well as the state and all that the state has to offer from a tourism standpoint.”

And, Gavitt said, the city’s experience hosting the Super Bowl this year, the college football championship next year and the other events it hosts on an annual basis, give it creditability as a Final Four site.

The NCAA is looking at eight cities as candidates to host the basketball championship and a decision is due in November.