The Missouri State High School Activities Association has awarded the Show-Me Showdown, the state’s high school basketball championships, to the University of Missouri-Columbia, with a return to the Hearnes Center and Mizzou Arena scheduled for the 2024-2025 seasons through the 2027-2028 seasons. In addition to the basketball announcement, MSHSAA kept the boys wrestling championships at Mizzou Arena through the 2028-2029 season.
The basketball championships had left the Mizzou campus in March 2017, and have been held at Missouri State University since. The 2017 move ended a string of basketball championships in Columbia that began in 1992.
Boys wrestling has been held in Columbia from 1973 through 2022, with the COVID-19 2020 season resulting in the only championships not held at MU, with the events that March moved to Cable Dahmer Arena in Independence.
In other sports related announcements from MSHSAA, the University of Missouri-Columbia will continue to host the state’s music festival through the 2028-2029 school year. The cross country state championships will remain in Columbia, with the Gans Creek Recreational Facility hosting through the 2028-2029 year.
It is possible that the girls wrestling state championships could split away from the boys wrestling state championships, with discussions to continue between MSHSAA staff and Hy-Vee Arena in Kansas City to potentially host the girls event in future years.
The future host of volleyball state tournaments is also up in the air. Through the 2024-2025 season, the volleyball championships will be contested at the Show-Me Center on the Southeast Missouri State University campus in Cape Girardeau. A proposal to host the event has been received from St. Joseph for the 2025 through 2027. The MSHSAA board has tabled consideration of the proposal in order for staff members to visit the potential host site, the St. Joseph Civic Arena.
