The following is a list of venues that have hosted the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. Venues that have not yet hosted, but have been officially announced as future tournament sites, are also included. (Note that in most cases, the modern name of the venue is used, though it may have been known under a different name at the time.)
While the First Four format began in 2011, the tournament previously featured an Opening Round with "play-in games" in twelve editions. In 1983, there were four games in the Opening Round with two games in Philadelphia and two games in Dayton. In 1984, there were five games in the Opening Round with three games in Philadelphia and two games in Dayton. Like today's First Four, these games were a partial seventh round for the tournament with the winners advanced to the First Round proper.
From 1985 to 2000 there were 64 teams in the tournament and no play-in games. In order to grant the recently formed Mountain West Conference an automatic bid, the NCAA decided in 2001 to add one team to the field rather than reduce the number of at-large bids.
This list includes sites which hosted preliminary games equivalent to the current First and Second Rounds. The 1951 tournament was the first tournament to have a game at a site other than the regional or national championship sites. From 1953 through 1974, the tournament had between three and six sites host first round games, with the winners progressing to the regional semifinals at the regional sites. In 1975, the tournament expanded to 32 teams and eliminated byes for top seeds, to accommodate the additional games eight sites hosted first round games. Between 1979 and 1985, the tournament gradually expanded to a 64-team field with a full, sixth round, creating the modern First and Second Rounds hosted at eight sites.
Between 1939 and 1951, the Regional Championships were the National Semifinals, with the winners advancing to a separate site. From 1952 to the present, the Regional Championships are the national quarterfinals with the winners advancing to the Final Four. In most editions of the tournament these sites have been given a geographic designation such as "East Region".
Between 1939 and 1951, the National Semifinals were hosted at the Regional sites and the National Championship game was hosted at a separate site. For those years, this list only includes the host of the National Championship game. In 1952, the Final Four evolved to the current format of four Regional winners meeting at a separate site.