Rory McIlroy walks to the tee at No. 16 during a Monday playoff at the 2025 Players Championship on March 16, 2025. McIlroy defeated J.J. Spaun to win The Players for the second time. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today
Published on March 5, 2026 at 5:48 pm
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It’s trophy time in the River City.
Northeast Florida will award championships in running, basketball, golf and track and field this month. It’s a sports smorgasbord that has Sam Vance salivating.
“I consider this Jacksonville’s March Madness because we are 1000% full all this month, especially the first few weeks with major sporting opportunities and events,” says Vance, the executive director of the Jacksonville Sports Foundation.
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Each of the first three weekends of the month features a sporting event that has operated at the heart of the local sports scene for decades.
- The 49th Gate River Run will take place Saturday morning.
- Next week marks the 50th straight year The Players Championship has teed off in Ponte Vedra Beach.
- On March 21, the 61st Bob Hayes Invitational Track and Field Meet will be held at the University of North Florida.
Amid that trio of marquee events are a troika of firsts.
The ASUN women’s and men’s basketball championships will be held at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena for the first time.
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The men’s quarterfinals tip off on Friday. The women’s and men’s semifinals will be held Saturday.
Neither Division I men’s basketball program in town advanced to the ASUN quarterfinals. That fact hasn’t stopped fans from Tennessee, as well as Georgia and Arkansas, from descending on Jacksonville.
The hoop dreams are not relegated to the collegiate level. Thursday marked the first of 10 days of the Florida High School Athletic Association basketball championships.
It’s the first time in 50 years the state boys basketball title has been awarded in Jacksonville. The Florida High School Athletic Association has never held its girls basketball championships here.
The value of sports
Vance says the collaboration with Visit Jacksonville, the city of Jacksonville, Duval County Public Schools and other partners made the varsity basketball nirvana at UNF Arena possible.
“It’s our goal to see economic growth and make an impact in our community that matters through sports,” Vance says. “Bringing the Florida high school (basketball championships here) not only brings everyone from all over Florida who are playing in the championships, all the family and friends are coming from all over the state. It’s also getting folks out to enjoy one more thing they can do with their family and friends.”
There are 10 Northeast Florida teams that will try to win a championship here. Bishop Kenny’s girls and boys programs are two wins away from a title. Fleming Island’s boys and Bartram Trail’s girls are among the local public school programs that will play here.
The Jackson boys basketball program may have the biggest local following. The Tigers (28-1) have played in front of standing-room-only crowds inside their cozy gym on Main Street throughout the postseason.
Head coach Byron Shemwell expects the energy from the Northside and the Eastside to follow the Tigers as they compete in the state semifinals for the seventh time in the past eight seasons.
“It’s exciting to be able to be one of the teams that play at home,” Shemwell said. “Trying to win a state championship is very exciting.”
Jackson looks to conclude its odyssey at UNF. Meanwhile, Sporting Jax will start its journey there.
Sporting Jax will play its first men’s professional match Saturday night against Hartford Athletic at Hodges Stadium.
The Sporting Jax men will kick off their 30-game schedule in the USL Championship this weekend. Two of its first three matches this month will be at home. St. Augustine resident Heidi Matheny looks forward to men’s pro soccer returning to Jacksonville for the first time in nine years.
“Northeast Florida is very well-rounded,” Matheny says. “We have events for all the fans. Whatever their passion is, we have a team to represent that passion.”
