LA JOLLA, Calif. - UC San Diego learned Wednesday it will host the 2026 NCAA Men's Water Polo National Collegiate Finals at Canyonview Aquatic Center.

The Tritons last hosted the event in 2014 as a Division II team. The 2026 National Collegiate Finals will be the first time they will host as a Division I squad.

For the fourth time in its history, the NCAA conducted a comprehensive site selection process in 2024, putting most of its championships up for bid simultaneously.

The Association chose over 240 host sites for preliminary and final rounds of predetermined championships across Divisions I, II and III, primarily for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 seasons. This cycle marked a shift from a four-year to a two-year site selection process.

The NCAA received more than 1,200 bids from member schools, conferences, cities and sports commissions across 47 states and Washington, D.C., all competing to host predetermined rounds for 87 of the NCAA's 90 championships. The respective NCAA sports committees selected the sites, with final approval from the divisional competition oversight and championships committees.

Forty states plus the District of Columbia were selected to host at least one NCAA championship event, with Florida garnering the most with 22. Pennsylvania and Texas are tied for second with 20, while California and North Carolina totaled 17.

Division I baseball, Division I football and Division I softball were omitted from the process due to existing contracts for the Men's College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska; Football Championship Subdivision Championship in Frisco, Texas; and the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City.

In NCAA men's water polo, Division I and Division II teams compete against one another throughout the season for a berth in the National Collegiate Finals.

When UC San Diego hosted the 2014 NCAA national championship, other teams in contention were Brown, Stanford, UCLA, and USC. The Tritons defeated Brown in a play-in game to advance to the semifinals, where they fell to UCLA. Moving on to the third-place game, UC San Diego lost to Stanford. UCLA and USC battled for the national title with the Bruins edging the Trojans, 9-8, to win their ninth crown since 2004 to snap USC's six-year stronghold on the championship.
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About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of The Big West in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 84 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions.