USA Volleyball Announces 2018 National Championship Sites

The 2018 National championship sites have been announced by USA Volleyball, putting the locations in Detroit, Dallas and Phoenix.

This is the first time that the USA Volleyball Girls’ Junior National Championship (GJNC) will be held in Detroit, while the USA Volleyball Boys’ Junior National Championships (BJNC) will head to Phoenix for the third time. The USA Volleyball Open National Championships will return to Dallas. The host city for the 2018 USA Volleyball Girls’ 18 Junior National Championship will be announced in early June.

Sport court will be the official athletic flooring used at all events.

GJNC in Detroit

The event in Detroit will be the 39th edition of the competition, which will bring in 1,208 teams will approximately 12,000 players and over 25,000 spectators. The competition will hand out 26 titles across the five divisions in seven different age groups, ranging from 11-and-under to 17-and-under.

The event in Detroit will be held at the Cobo Center, one of the largest contiguous exhibit floor spaces in North America that features 2.4 million square feet of usable space.

Though the first time hosting the GJNC, it is not the cities first go-around with hosting large scale volleyball events. In 2015, Detroit hosted the USA Volleyball Open National Championships alongside the NORCECA Men’s Champions Cup which brought in the USA, Canada, Cuba and Mexico. In addition, Detroit played host to the 1938, 1967 and 2015 USA Volleyball Open National Championships for adults.

Economic Impact

In recent year, the GJNC has had a significant economic impact on the host city. From the 2016 edition in Indianapolis, the city reported a $59 million economic impact and the competition that will be held in Minneapolis this year is expected to bring a $55 million impact to the city.

BJNC in Phoenix

In the 39th edition of the BJNC, the competition will head back to Phoenix for the third time at the Phoenix Convention Center, with the first two being held in 2001 and 2003. The competition is expected to bring in 450 teams with nearly 5,000 players vying for one of 12 titles from ages 12-and-under to 18-and-under.

More recently for the city of Phoenix, the 2010 and 2014 USA Volleyball Open National Championships were hosted in Phoenix.

Open in Dallas

The Open level of competition was established in 1928 and have run annually, aside from a two-year gap during World War II. This is the 89th edition of the competition that will draw in 500 teams with over 6,o00 players. The competition ranges from 18 to 80-plus, as the oldest level of play being the Men’s 79-and-Over bracket.

Alongside the Open Championships, the Special Olympics and Sitting Volleyball competitions will run concurrently with the event at Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.

Dallas has a long-standing association with USA Volleyball events:

• Open Nationals – 1960, 1996, 2002 and 2011
• GJNC – 1998 and 2008
• GJNC18 – 2017
• BJNC – 1998 and 2016
• FIVB World League – 2012 and 2016

Economic Impact

This year, the estimated economic impact of the competition is expected to bring in $13.5 million for the city.