OHSAA Returning Tournament Basketball To Taft Coliseum on Ohio State Fairgrounds

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(Columbus) – After a 10-year hiatus, postseason high school basketball will return to the Taft Coliseum at the Ohio Expo Center and State Fairgrounds next February and March. The announcement was made Monday by Doug Ute, Ohio High School Athletic Association Executive Director, and Adam Heffron, Ohio Expo Center Executive Director.

The historic multipurpose arena on the state fairgrounds campus was one of several hosts of the OHSAA basketball state tournament from 1923 until the state tournament moved to St. John Arena in 1958. The fairgrounds coliseum then hosted district and regional tournament contests from 1959 through 2014.

“We have been working with the Expo Center on this for quite a while and are so excited to make this announcement,” Ute said. “We are also excited to announce that girls basketball will now play tournament games at the Coliseum in addition to boys, which wasn’t done before. Reaching the Fairgrounds Coliseum was the goal for so many schools in Central Ohio for decades, and we are thrilled that the Coliseum will be that destination once again.”

The Taft Coliseum is a 5,000 seat arena that has hosted countless basketball and ice hockey contests, along with hundreds of other events. (Photo Credit: Ohio Expo Center)

“We are thankful for this great partnership with OHSAA,” Heffron said. “The Taft Coliseum is the perfect historic location to host post-season games, and we cannot wait to welcome players, coaches, families, and fans back to the fairgrounds for years to come.”

Beginning the week of February 17, the OHSAA will place selected girls and boys district and regional tournament games at the Taft Coliseum, which could also host state semifinal games. More information will be released in January.