ST. LOUIS -- Commissioner Doug Elgin has announced a list of dates and sites for the various Missouri Valley Conference sports championships for the 2020-21 athletic season. Site awards were approved by the league’s Joint Committee (faculty athletics representatives, directors of athletics and senior woman administrators of each institution) and were ratified by the MVC Presidents’ Council.
Notably, originally scheduled 2020 MVC championship hosts for men’s golf, softball, women’s tennis and baseball will host those respective events next spring.
The State Farm MVC Men’s Basketball Championship -- the 31st consecutive men’s tournament in St. Louis -- will feature all 10 Missouri Valley Conference schools and will be played at Enterprise Center. For the 16th-straight year, the tournament will begin on Thursday and end on Sunday (March 4-7). All nine games will be televised with the semifinals airing on CBS Sports Network and the championship game on CBS Sports.
The MVC Women’s Basketball Championship will be in the Quad Cities (Moline, Ill.) Notably, the MVC has conducted its women’s basketball championship at a neutral site every year since 2008. The 2021 championship features all 10 Missouri Valley Conference schools and will begin on Thursday and end on Sunday (March 11-14). All nine games will be on The Valley on ESPN.
WOMEN’S SOCCER: The 2020 MVC Women’s Soccer Championship will be conducted at sites of the higher seeds, and four teams will qualify for the field. The finals will take place on Sunday, Nov. 8. | 2019 Champion: Loyola
MEN’S SOCCER: The 2020 MVC Men’s Soccer Championship will be conducted at sites of the higher seeds and three teams will qualify for the field. The regular-season champion will receive a bye and host the title match on Sunday, Nov. 15. | 2019 Champion: Loyola
VOLLEYBALL: The 2020 MVC Volleyball Championship will be in Normal, Ill., at Redbird Arena. The six-team tournament will be held on Thanksgiving weekend, and Illinois State will serve as host for the 10th time in its history. | 2019 Champion: Illinois State | Last Time Hosted by ISU: 2017
TENNIS: The 2021 MVC Women’s Tennis Team Championship will be in Springfield, Mo., and Missouri State will serve as host at Cooper Tennis Complex. | 2019 Champion: Illinois State (2020 event cancelled) | Last Time Hosted by Missouri State: 2018
SOFTBALL: Evansville will host the 2021 MVC Softball Championship at James & Dorothy Cooper Stadium. The tournament will feature a six-team field, and Evansville will host the MVC Championship for a third time in its history. | 2019 Champion: Drake (2020 event cancelled) | Last Time Hosted by Evansville: 2003
BASEBALL: The 2021 MVC Baseball Championship will be played in Carbondale, Ill., for the first time since 1986 and will feature a six-team (double-elimination) field. Southern Illinois will host the tournament at Richard “Itchy” Jones Stadium. | 2019 Champion: Indiana State (2020 event cancelled) | Last Time Hosted by Southern Illinois: 1986
Other hosts for league championships in 2020-21 include Illinois State (men’s & women’s cross country); Loyola (men’s golf); Southern Illinois (women’s swimming & diving, men’s and women’s outdoor track & field, women’s golf); and UNI (men’s & women’s indoor track & field).
