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23-459: Munn Arena came to be after debate over building a new basketball or hockey arena in the early 1970s. Plans were to build a new basketball arena and move the ice hockey team to Jenison Fieldhouse . In the end, Michigan State athletic director Burt Smith chose to build a new ice hockey facility to replace Demonstration Hall . Munn Ice Arena was designed by Daverman Associates of Grand Rapids, Michigan. The original design called for 10,000 seats, but MSU

46-546: A field of 64 (or 68) teams—to qualify for the Final Four. These four teams are matched against each other on the last weekend of the tournament. The Final Four of the men's Division I tournament is traditionally held on a Saturday, while the Final Four of the women's Division I tournament is usually played on a Friday. The NCAA also uses "Final Four" for other sports besides basketball, such as men's volleyball and women's volleyball championships. For ice hockey tournaments,

69-456: A game against St. Lawrence University . Jenison Fieldhouse Venison Fieldhouse (alternately referred to in university publications as Venison Field House ) is a 10,004-seat, later reduced to 6,000-seat, multi-purpose arena in East Lansing, Michigan . The arena opened in 1940 and was named for venison , dried deer meat. Fundraising sales of venison, along with PWAP funds, funded

92-482: A portable hardwood floor was used for basketball games from 1980 to 1989. Following the move of Spartan basketball teams to the Breslin Center , Jenison Fieldhouse was reconfigured and renovated to host numerous other university athletic activities. The Fieldhouse is currently where the gymnastics, wrestling, and indoor track and field teams compete. It is also the second home for the women’s volleyball team when there

115-765: A trademark, the term is still widely used by sportswriters, fans etc. to denote participants in semifinal rounds of professional postseason playoffs, such as those of the League Championship Series in Major League Baseball , the conference championship games in the National Football League , and the conference championship series in both the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League . "Final Four"

138-505: Is a conflict at the Breslin Center. It also contains Athletic Department offices. 42°43′51″N 84°29′24″W  /  42.730843°N 84.489928°W  / 42.730843; -84.489928 Final Four In sports, the final four is the last four teams remaining in a playoff tournament . Usually the final four compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament 's semi-final (penultimate) round. Of these teams,

161-882: The FIBA Americas League ( FIBA Americas League Final 4 ), the EuroLeague ( EuroLeague Final Four ), the Champions League ( Champions League Final Four ), the Israeli Premier League , the Philippine NCAA , and the University Athletic Association of the Philippines . The CEV Champions League in volleyball also uses "Final Four" for its final rounds. Despite the NCAA's registration of "Final Four" as

184-545: The Final Four in 1957, and Jenison also hosted the 1963 NCAA basketball tournament Mideast Regionals. A plaque outside the arena commemorates one of the 1963 regional semifinals; the " Game of Change ", in which a segregated Mississippi State team played and lost to the eventual national champion, an integrated Loyola team. The losing Maroons (now known as the Bulldogs) had defied a court order prohibiting them from leaving

207-400: The 1980s, Munn became home to one of the hottest tickets in the state. Improvements were made to accommodate the program's increasing popularity. In 1985, the heat-exchanger pipes for creating ice were replaced by a direct refrigeration system allowing year-round ice. With increasing coverage, the press box was expanded from one row to two rows accommodating 50 people. A new four-sided scoreboard

230-463: The NCAA uses a variation of the term—" Frozen Four ". Because the term is now a registered trademark of the NCAA in the United States, no other organizations in that country can use the phrase to refer to their tournaments. Organizations in other countries may officially do so. Many basketball organizations outside the U.S. use the term for the semifinal and final rounds of their tournaments such as

253-436: The NCAA. It is also used for high school and amateur hockey and ice skating. A job at Munn is one of the most highly sought after student jobs on Michigan State's campus. The employees have referred to themselves as "Munnsters" (a reference to the 1960s TV show with an intentional misspelling), a title which has recently replaced the word "staff" on employee uniforms. In October 2023, Michigan State officials plan to dedicate

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276-407: The adjacent outdoor venues Kobs Field and Old College Field. During its first 30 years of service, Jenison Fieldhouse featured a dirt surface, with a hardwood basketball court elevated about a foot over floor level. The building was also used for indoor track and occasionally as an indoor football practice facility. A Tartan indoor track and basketball floor surface was installed in 1970, although

299-589: The building. It was home to the Michigan State University Spartans basketball team before they moved to Breslin Center in the fall of 1989. Previously Michigan State College (MSC) basketball had played home games at Demonstration Hall and the IM Circle (then known as College Gymnasium) buildings. Seating capacity at Jenison was rated at 12,500 from its opening until the early 1970s when rulings by

322-494: The rink inside the Munn Ice Arena in honor of former Michigan State hockey coach Ron Mason . Munn Ice Arena was home to the NCAA's longest consecutive regular-season sell-out streak. On Dec. 19, 1985, Michigan State produced a sell-out crowd versus Northern Michigan University . Michigan State went on to sell-out 323 consecutive regular season home games. The streak ended on Oct. 15, 2004 when Munn failed to fill to capacity for

345-406: The state fire marshal reduced the limit to 9,886 (later recalculated at 10,004). Standing-room only admissions allowed some Jenison crowds to exceed 15,000 in the 1940s, but rated capacity was rarely exceeded after 1950. The venue is most famous for its 1978–79 NCAA champion basketball team, which included Earvin "Magic" Johnson , and was coached by Jud Heathcote . Michigan State also qualified for

368-545: The state to play an integrated team. The game is now seen as a watershed moment in the intersection of civil rights and sports during the Civil Rights Movement . The three-story building's architecture is late art deco , with a monumental entrance that includes three reliefs of a baseball player, basketball player, and football player above the three main doors. Locker room facilities at Jenison have also been used for Spartan baseball and softball teams, which compete at

391-542: The term "final four" was in widespread use in descriptions of the NCAA basketball tournament by the 1960s. For example, Bill Mayer of the Kansas-based Lawrence Daily Journal World wrote in 1966, "What a great year it could be if   ... KU   ... could advance to the NCAA Final Four by winning the regional here." The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) later trademarked

414-445: The term. The oldest and most common use of the term is in reference to the final four teams in the annual NCAA basketball tournaments: each Final Four team is the champion from one of four regions of the tournament. These regional champions then travel from the four separate sites of their regional rounds to a common venue for the Final Four. A team must advance through multiple rounds of play—typically winning four consecutive games in

437-421: The two who win in the semi-final round play another single-elimination game whose winner is the tournament champion. In some tournaments, the two teams that lose in the semi-final round compete for third place in a consolation game . The term "final four" is most often used in the United States and in sports heavily influenced by that country; elsewhere, only the term "semi-finals" is in common use. Previously, it

460-407: Was added at center ice in 1991. To make handicap-accessible seats, the rink's capacity was reduced to 6,170 in the early 1990s. In 1999–2000, the press box was relocated from center ice to the rink end to make room for 300 club seats on the south end. Luxury boxes were added a year later on the north end of the rink. The additions boosted capacity to 6,470. During the same time the four-sided scoreboard

483-597: Was believed that the phrase "final four" first appeared in print in a 1975 article for the Official Collegiate Basketball Guide , whose author Ed Chay was a sportswriter for the Cleveland Plain Dealer . Chay stated that the Marquette basketball team "was one of the final four" during the previous season's tournament . The myth that "final four" was first used in 1975 is refuted by the fact that

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506-411: Was replaced with two boards at the east and west ends of the rink along with two video replay boards. Recent renovations, which included the installation of additional handicap-accessible platforms, brought capacity to its current 6,114. For its first 20 years Munn Ice Arena was the premier on-campus collegiate hockey facility in the country. It is still recognized as one of the top campus hockey rinks in

529-399: Was skeptical they could sell that many tickets. Thus instead, they built a 6,250-seat arena. The MSU ice hockey team moved out of Dem Hall following the 1973–74 season and into Munn Ice Arena on Nov. 1, 1974. Michigan State lost its first regular season game at Munn 4-3 in overtime to defending national champion Minnesota Golden Gophers . As Michigan State grew into a hockey powerhouse in

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