NCAA ANNOUNCEMENT RELEASE

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - The NCAA has named Georgia Southern University the host for the 2027 NCAA Rifle Championships to be held on March 12-13, 2027, at Jack and Ruth Ann Hill Convocation Center, the NCAA unveiled on Wednesday, Oct. 2. The Eagles will be hosting the NCAA Championship for the first time.

"We are super excited to have the opportunity to showcase our amazing campus and city when hosting the 2027 NCAA Rifle Championships," said Georgia Southern head rifle coach Soren Butler. "That's the premier event of the year in our sport and one we strive to compete in every year. We're super excited to be able to show off this new facility that will be a great venue for college rifle and to have everyone down in The Boro!"

This is the fourth time for this specific NCAA championship bid process, spanning 87 championships across a two-year cycle. Previously, selection announcements varied by sport. This process gives the NCAA and host sites more time to plan each championship experience.

"We are ecstatic and honored to be able to showcase Georgia Southern University, the Statesboro area and the new Jack and Ruth Ann Hill Convocation Center at the 2027 NCAA Rifle Championships," said Georgia Southern director of athletics Jared Benko. "Thank you to the NCAA and Georgia Southern for allowing us to serve as host for this event and for trusting us to create lifelong memories for the teams and individuals that earn the right to compete in this championship."

Bidding for 87 of 90 NCAA championships began in September 2023 and more than 1,200 bid applications were ultimately submitted. Each sport committee, per division, selected the host sites it believed would provide the ultimate experience for the respective student-athletes, resulting in more than 240 total championship event sites being awarded. More than 54,000 student-athletes compete in NCAA championships each year. The championships not included in the process are Division I baseball, Division I football and Division I softball.

The NCAA Rifle Championships will feature eight teams and individuals from schools across the country. This will mark the third time a current member of the SoCon will host this event, as VMI has hosted it four times (1982, 1988, 1993 and 2000), and The Citadel hosted in 2018.

The competitive events for the NCAA men's and women's rifle championships will be individual smallbore rifle three-position (60 shots) and air rifle (60 shots), with finals in each event, team smallbore rifle three-position, and team air rifle. The individual and team events in smallbore will be conducted on Friday. The individual and team competition in air rifle will be conducted on Saturday. The overall team champion will be determined by combining the smallbore and air rifle team totals into one aggregate score for each institution.