A Regional Effort (EDITORS NOTE)

In 2013, Bentonville’s Tiger Stadium was named one of three finalists to host the NCAA Division II National Football Championship Game.

Visit Bentonville and the Great American Conference — an NCAA Division II conference headquartered in Russellville — were behind the effort to bring the event to Northwest Arkansas.

The bid to host the game from 2014 through 2017 was ultimately awarded to Sporting Park in Kansas City, Missouri.

The level of interest in hosting an NCAA championship here is still strong. That was underscored May 4 when a group from our area traveled to the NCAA national office in Indianapolis to learn more about the site selection process.

Tourism officials Bill Rogers (Springdale Chamber of Commerce), Kalene Griffith (Visit Bentonville) and J.R. Shaw (Visit Rogers) and University of Arkansas athletics administrators Chris Pohl and Kevin Trainor traveled together to attend a free, one-day symposium for cities interested in hosting an NCAA championship.

“Our thinking was by going as a group, it shows we’re invested as a region,” Griffith said. “We think that sends a strong signal.”

Jeff Jarnecke, the NCAA’s director of championships and alliances, said about 225 people attended the symposium. The first basic requirement, he said, is that every bid must have a NCAA member school or conference associated with it.

After that, the process has a number of variables, but one thing he told me in a phone interview stood out.

“Those cities in it just to fill hotel nights and bid on everything will likely not be very successful,” he said. “It’s a community event.”

The goal in Northwest Arkansas is, of course, working together to share resources to take advantage of opportunities. That’s called regionalism.

There will never be a Final Four in Northwest Arkansas, but the governing body of college athletics puts on 90 championships each year. There’s no reason to believe that Northwest Arkansas shouldn’t be an attractive destination for at least one.

The NCAA’s next bid cycle opens in June and ends in August. In December, it will announce winning bids for 89 championships across 24 sports in three divisions for a four-year window of 2018-19 to 2021-22.