{"id":141925,"date":"2026-03-18T18:28:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T18:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/141925\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T18:28:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T18:28:11","slug":"whos-playing-in-ncaa-tournament-in-philadelphia-heres-what-to-know-as-march-madness-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/141925\/","title":{"rendered":"Who’s playing in NCAA Tournament in Philadelphia? Here’s what to know as March Madness returns."},"content":{"rendered":"

The NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament<\/a> \u2014 the first of many big sporting events in the city in 2026 \u2014 returns to Philadelphia Friday at Xfinity Mobile Arena.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Six games will be played in South Philly \u2014 four Friday and two Sunday. The games will be hosted by Saint Joseph’s University.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here’s what to know about games in Philadelphia and more.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Which teams are playing in the NCAA Tournament in Philadelphia and when?<\/p>\n

Eight teams will compete in March Madness this weekend in Philadelphia and begin their journey through the single-elimination bracket.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Four first-round games will be played Friday, while two second-round games will happen Sunday. The games on Friday are broken up into two sessions, with the first one starting at 1:50 p.m. The teams are from the Midwest and South regions of the bracket.<\/p>\n

Session 1\u00a0No. 3 seed Virginia vs. No. 14 seed Wright State at 1:50 p.m.No. 6 seed Tennessee vs. No. 11 seed Miami OH\/ No. 11 seed SMUSession 2No. 7 seed UCLA vs. No. 10 seed UCF at 7:25 p.m.No. 2 seed UConn vs. No. 15 seed Furman University at 10 p.m.Session 3\u00a0How to get NCAA Tournament tickets in Philadelphia<\/p>\n

Tickets for the games<\/a> are available on Xfinity Mobile Arena’s website. Hoops fans can buy tickets for each session, which includes two games.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A ticket package that includes a variety of curated NCAA Championship gift boxes and officially licensed commemorative merchandise is also available.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last time Philadelphia hosted NCAA Tournament<\/p>\n

NCAA Tournament games were last played in Philly in 2022 when the University of Pennsylvania hosted the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight rounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During that tournament, No. 15 seed Saint Peter’s University upset No. 3 seed Purdue. But they then had their historic run cut short in the Elite Eight vs. North Carolina in South Philly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

NCAA Tournament starts off year of big sporting events in 2026<\/p>\n

The NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament is the first of many big sporting events in Philadelphia in 2026 as the United States celebrates the nation’s 250th anniversary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In May, Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square<\/a> will host the PGA Championship.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Then in the summer, six FIFA World Cup 26 matches<\/a> will be played at Lincoln Financial Field from June to July.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After the FIFA World Cup, Citizens Bank Park will host the Home Run Derby and 2026 MLB All-Star<\/a> Game in July.<\/p>\n

\n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n

In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament \u2014 the first of many big sporting events in the city…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141926,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[10150,64216,22507,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-141925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-college-basketball","tag-march-madness","tag-ncaa-tournament","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}