USA Gymnastics has announced that the 2026 U.S. Gymnastics Championships and the USA Gymnastics National Congress and Trade Show will take place in Phoenix from August 6–9 at PHX Arena in downtown Phoenix, the first time the Arizona destination has hosted the event.

The announcement comes on the heels of the 2025 edition of the event taking place in New Orleans this past weekend. More than 2,500 attendees and exhibitors will take part in the accompanying National Congress and Trade Show at the Phoenix Convention Center.

“USA Gymnastics is excited to bring our artistic championships and National Congress to Phoenix for the first time ever,” said Stefanie Korepin, USA Gymnastics chief programs officer. “We look forward to athletes, coaches, judges, fans and Congress attendees experiencing everything downtown Phoenix has to offer.”

The U.S. Gymnastics Championships will feature junior and senior artistic gymnasts as they compete for national titles and vie to make the U.S. National Team roster for the 2026 World Championships in Rotterdam, Netherlands. World champions and Olympic medalists will be among the athletes competing.

“Phoenix is proud to partner with USA Gymnastics to bring the 2026 Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships and National Congress & Tradeshow to our city,” said Chris Robertson, director of national accounts for Visit Phoenix. “As a destination known for staging premier sporting events, we’re excited to welcome the USA Gymnastics community to ‘Championship Valley’ next August. With world-class competition at PHX Arena and engaging professional development at the Phoenix Convention Center just steps apart, attendees can look forward to an unforgettable experience in the heart of downtown.”

The city has been actively engaged with USA Gymnastics in recent years, having hosted the 2022 USA Gymnastics Stars & Stripes Championships for trampoline & tumbling.

“Phoenix continues the trend of “Championship Valley” with the announcement that we’ll be home to the 2026 U.S. Gymnastics Championships and the USA Gymnastics National Congress and Trade Show,” said Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego. “We are thrilled to add these events to our continually growing roster of flawlessly executed major events. Our city has so much to offer, from a bustling food and arts scene to state-of-the-art facilities, and we cannot wait to showcase Phoenix to the thousands of gymnastics athletes, coaches, their families and spectators next year.”

The last time New Orleans hosted the U.S. Gymnastics National Championships, most of the 2025 competitors hadn’t been born yet.

The 2025 U.S. Gymnastics National Championships will take place August 7–10 at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, 30 years since the 1995 competition in the Crescent City, which saw 13–year–old prodigy Dominique Moceanu win the women’s all–around title and John Roethlisberger, a three–time Olympian who currently does commentary for the event on NBC, winning the men’s all–around title.

“We all shook our heads and said, ‘Wow, how has it been 30 years?’ I would be surprised if it’s another 30 years before we’re back and we’re looking forward to getting there this year,” said Jill Geer, USA Gymnastics chief communications and marketing officer.

Jay Cicero, president and chief executive officer at Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation, was there in 1995 and is looking forward to welcoming the event back.

“I was actually the vice president of operations for our organization back in 1995 when we hosted this event on the floor of the Superdome,” Cicero said. “The Smoothie King Center was not even a thought to be built yet. I remember it was really fun to have that on the floor of the Superdome. But to have it back 30 years later is great.”

A Strong Partnership Renewed

The names and faces at the forefront of USA Gymnastics have changed since 1995, but one thing remains the same — the National Championships, which are held in conjunction with the annual USA Gymnastics National Congress, is always the biggest weekend of a non–Olympic year for the national governing body.

“The only event that’s bigger than this event is our Olympic trials,” Geer said. “The crown jewel of every year for us is the Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships and National Congress, which also includes our Hall of Fame induction. We have roughly 5,000 people who come into the city as participants of those events, and that doesn’t include fans coming in.”

Hosting that influx of tourism — across the city in both Smoothie King Center and the Morial Convention Center — might make some cities nervous. But not New Orleans or the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation.

“Our organization has served as the host committee staff for the last four Super Bowls here, last four Men’s Final Fours, last three Women’s Final Fours, NBA All-Star Games and more,” Cicero said. “So I’m definitely not saying this event is light work by any means, but New Orleans is built to host events like this.”

“Working with New Orleans and Company and the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation — there are few, if any, cities in this country who do big national sporting events like New Orleans,” Geer added. “We were so pleased for them to put the bid forward and the reaction from everyone from the gymnastics community was universally positive.”

In addition to the competitions taking place in Smoothie King Center and the National Congress down the street in the city’s convention center, USA Gymnastics will also have fan activations, an expo hall with plenty of shopping, educational experiences and chances for fans to celebrate the sport together.

It takes a great relationship between a host city and event organizer to organize a successful event and each side feels they have that.

“Jay and his team have been very supportive from the start,” Geer said. “We did a press conference last fall when we announced that we’re heading to Smoothie King Center and it was the best attended press conference we’ve had in quite some time.”

“The staff for USA Gymnastics has been very consistent in their abilities in the past 30 years,” Cicero said. “I remember having a great relationship with their staff back in 1995 leading up to the championships here. We’re just delighted to have them back, and it’s great business for us, especially over the summer when we tend to have a little bit lighter convention schedule.”

New Orleans Ready to Bring the Energy

The National Championships is the event that decides which gymnasts will be on the U.S. national team, and from that group, the team for World Championships.

It’s an opportunity for young competitors to break onto the national stage and make a name for themselves, while the veterans are hoping to hold onto their spots.

“Specific to 2025, fans are going to see the next generation of athletes in the run up to LA 2028,” Geer said. “We had one of our oldest women’s teams ever in Paris. And out of the crop of women’s athletes right now who are competing, there are only two who are over age 20. So it really is the next best generation coming up.

“And for the men, you are going to get to see several of the heroes from Paris including Stephen Nedoroscik, AKA ‘Pommel Horse Guy,’ who has also gone on to fame with ‘Dancing with the Stars.’ You’ll also see Fred Richard, who was our all–around champion at the Olympic trials; Brody Malone, who’s a world champion in the high bar, and Asher Hong, who was a former all–around champion.”

A particular competitor on the women’s side will have some homefield advantage in New Orleans. Hezly Rivera, a 17–year–old member of the 2024 gold medal–winning Team USA squad, will be competing in New Orleans. She has committed to join LSU in 2026, making her a local favorite.

“We think it’s going to be loud and proud, as usual,” Cicero said of the crowds in the Smoothie King Center. “The success of the LSU gymnastics program has led us to host two SEC Gymnastics Championships in the past five years. And we had record attendance for both of them. So that gave us the confidence that we could start looking at USA Gymnastics events and be successful with it.”

The Smoothie King Center, home of the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans, has nearly 18,000 seats for the gymnastics fans to fill. While the floor of the Superdome was a unique venue for the 1995 U.S. Gymnastics Championships, Geer thinks the arena setting will provide an electric atmosphere.

“Having the right-sized arena is always critical for an event like our championships,” Geer said. “An arena that is suited for either basketball or hockey is usually the best venue to go to. Smoothie King Center in particular is a surprisingly intimate venue for its size. So the floor layout is actually quite tight, in a good way. Because that means all the energy is focused and the fans are really close up to the athletes.”

“We just hosted a very successful UFC 318 event where Louisianan Dustin Poirier fought his final fight here and it was electric,” Cicero added. “I compared it to a Saints playoff game. It was that much fun to be in the facility that day.”

Both Geer and Cicero are looking forward to a successful and lucrative four days as the best gymnasts in the country take center stage in one of the top sports cities in the nation.

“There’s only one New Orleans,” Geer said. “It’s a must-visit city, so it’s great for fans and it’s great for our attendees at our National Congress. It’s just a city that people are really excited about.”

“Louisiana, and New Orleans in particular, are very attractive for people to travel to,” Cicero said. “So we’re going to have not only the folks who are familiar with the participants or family of the participants, but those fans in the region or around the country that want to come in for this event — we think that they’ll be here in droves. We think it’s going to be very successful and hopefully will lead to many more events with USA gymnastics. It won’t take another 30 years.”

USA Gymnastics’ top events will continue to get an audience on NBC Sports, through 2032.

The national governing body and the network announced the historic renewal on the cusp of the organization’s national championships in New Orleans. Under terms of the deal, NBC and Peacock will continue to present coverage of USA Gymnastics’ most high-profile artistic gymnastics events through 2032.

“We are proud to extend our partnership with NBC Sports and to expand coverage of gymnastics over the next eight years,” USA Gymnastics President and CEO Li Li Leung said. “No broadcaster better elevates the compelling stories of athletes on their Olympic journeys. We look forward to collaborating on bringing gymnastics to the American fan base in exciting new ways.”
NBC Sports also will produce a special selection show for USA Gymnastics women’s team rosters for Artistic World Championship competitions each non-Summer Olympic year. The extension marks the longest contract extension between NBC and an NGB announced since the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. NBC Sports has agreed to media rights extensions with USA Track & Field, USA Swimming and World Aquatics.

“Working with our fantastic partners at USA Gymnastics, together we’re bringing innovative ideas and programs to our coverage and expanding the ways we can reach gymnastics fans and new audiences alike through access and storytelling,” said Joe Gesue, senior vice president of Olympic programming and planning for NBC Sports. “Gymnastics has long been a cornerstone of our Olympic coverage driven by the tremendous success of the athletes of Team USA, and we can’t wait to showcase their journeys to LA28 and beyond.”

NBCUniversal controls the U.S. media rights to the Olympic Games through 2036, which are scheduled for Italy, (2026), Los Angeles (2028), the French Alps (2030), Brisbane, Australia (2032), Salt Lake City (2034) and the 2036 Summer Olympics, whose host has not yet been determined.

Li Li Leung, who took over the president and CEO role at USA Gymnastics during a tumultuous time for the national governing body and helped lead the organization to a significant turnaround, has announced that she will step down from her role at the end of 2025.

Leung was hired in 2019 in the wake of the Larry Nasser sexual abuse scandal that rocked not just the sport but the entire sports world. Since her hiring, she worked to guide the NGB through a cultural transformation that began a new chapter for the Indianapolis-based organization.

“The opportunity to lead USA Gymnastics has been the honor and privilege of a lifetime,” Leung said. “Thanks to the dedication of the entire gymnastics community, we are now in an incredible position as we turn our attention to the L.A. Olympic Games. The last several months have been a time of great reflection and I know that now is the right time to pass the torch to the next leader, with the sport and organization thriving. I wanted to ensure the board has the opportunity to conduct a thorough search and also give my successor a long runway into the 2028 Olympic Games. I’m going to take some time to reset before determining what is next and I look forward to USA Gymnastics accomplishing great things in 2025 and beyond.”
USA Gymnastics had filed for bankruptcy months before Leung’s arrival in the hopes of reaching settlements in the dozens of lawsuits it faced from women who blamed it for failing to supervise Nassar, a former national team doctor who sexually abused them under the guise of medical treatment.

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee was in the process of stripping USA Gymnastics of its status as the national governing body for the sport. After Leung’s arrival, the lawsuit was settled in late 2021. The USOPC eventually halted the decertification process and corporate partners reengaged and, in some instances, even expanded their relationship.

“Li Li was the right leader at the right time for USA Gymnastics and accomplished in six years what many thought was not possible,” said Board Chair Kathryn Carson. “Her deep passion for gymnastics and extraordinary dedication to leading transformation has positioned USA Gymnastics to move boldly toward LA28. With this strong foundation, we are confident we will identify a leader to build on Li Li’s legacy.”

Among her accomplishments at USA Gymnastics, Leung helped oversee a new mission statement and set of organizational values that prioritizes athlete safety and saw a transformation of the NGB’s workforce, with 70 percent turnover from the previous era. She also helped established an Athlete Bill of Rights in December 2020 and helped the NGB emerge from bankruptcy in 2022. She has also led an effort to consider a new host location for the NGB’s headquarters.

The NGB also began a restoration with corporate sponsors, highlighted by the largest partnership in its history, a five-year deal with Nike that extends through the 2028 Olympic Summer Games. On the grass roots level, USAG now has more than 3,300 member clubs, nearly 240,000 members, and sanctions more than 3,500 events on an annual basis.

USA Gymnastics also saw a return to the podium, with 11 medals including women’s team gold at the 2024 Olympic Games, men’s team bronze medals in Paris and the 2023 World Championships, 10 medals at the 2023 Trampoline & Tumbling World Championships including team gold, the first-ever medal for an American at a rhythmic World Championships at the 2023 Junior Worlds, and the first World Cup and World Championships medals for American parkour athletes.

CAA Executive Search will lead the search for Leung’s successor, with the goal to find a permanent replacement by the end of the year.

The United States Trampoline & Tumbling Association’s 55th National Championships will be in Rapid City, South Dakota, June 16–21, the third time the USTA has held the National Championships in Rapid City.

The event will bring more than 110 teams and 1,600 athletes to Rapid City, where they will compete in over 3,500 events, including tumbling, trampoline and double-mini trampoline.  It will produce 2,000 room nights with an estimated economic impact of more than $1 million.

“The USTA championships are a big deal for us,” said Domico Rodriguez, executive director at the Rapid City Sports Commission. “This is our first national championship since the commission was formed and we are looking forward to having this event, teams and athletes in Rapid City.”

Athletes range in age from 2–33 and categories start at the beginner level and go up to the elite level. Many competitors in the elite level category are world champions, with several poised to qualify for trampoline in future Olympic Summer Games. The championships will be at the Summit Arena at The Monument.

“We’re delighted to be back in Rapid City,” said Patti Lingenfelter, USTA executive director. “We keep coming back because Rapid City is the favorite place for our parents and athletes to vacation. When we can combine national championships and an amazing destination with so many things to see and do, it’s a win-win.”

Lauryn Turner, who has been the chief operating officer at USA Gymnastics since 2020 and led the national governing body’s organization of the U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Trials in Minneapolis in the summer of 2024, has joined the WNBA’s Dallas Wings as executive vice president and chief operating officer.

Turner joined USA Gymnastics in March 2020 and ran operational, commercial, and business planning functions across all departments. The Olympic Gymnastics Trials in Minneapolis generated an estimated $75 million in economic impact, welcomed over 200,000 visitors and set revenue records.

“I am so excited to join the Dallas Wings as their Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer,” said Turner. “With the increased exposure of the WNBA, the Wings’ continued momentum and the upcoming addition of the No. 1 draft pick, this is an exciting time to be part of the organization. I am deeply passionate about empowering women through sport and this role provides a unique opportunity to contribute to the Wings’ continued success both on and off the court.”

Prior to USA Gymnastics, Turner spent 20 years at Varsity Brands. As Vice President of Development, she led a company-wide strategic initiative and helped expand the company’s event portfolio.

“We are thrilled to welcome Lauryn to the Dallas Wings organization as our Chief Operating Officer,” Wings Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner Greg Bibb said. “Lauryn brings decades of experience leading businesses in the sports industry with an extensive background in strategic planning, operations, revenue generation and analytics. Her understanding and proven track record in propelling business growth through data-driven strategies will help the Wings build on our current momentum while playing a crucial role in the success of our impending move to Dallas, the opening of our new practice facility and the renovation of the Dallas Memorial Coliseum.”

The 2025 Southeastern Conference gymnastics championships will be March 22 at Legacy Arena in Birmingham, the eighth time the destination has hosted the event.

Birmingham has hosted in 2001, 2002 and 2003 at Bartow Arena; 2006, 2011 and 2014 at the former BJCC Arena and 2022 at the newly renovated Legacy Arena. In all seven conference championships in Birmingham, the Crimson Tide has never finished as low as second place with three championships in 2003, 2011 and 2014.

Legacy Arena is an 18,000-capacity arena which is also the home venue for the NBA G-League Birmingham Squadron. A $125 million modernization of Legacy Arena was completed in November 2021.

The newly reconstituted USA Gymnastics Foundation board of directors has unveiled a strategic vision in the principle of being “The All-Around Champion for the Sport.”

“It is important to the Foundation that our mission reflects the direction of the sport as a whole,” said USA Gymnastics Board Chair John Deary. “We will fundraise and invest in supporting programs where the gymnastics community and athletic achievement thrive together.”

The USA Gymnastics Foundation raises funds on two primary pillars: empowering champions by supporting athlete performance, health and wellness at all levels of the sport; and enriching communities by supporting gymnastics.

The Foundation board includes Fortune 500 executives, gymnastics community figures, hall of fame athletes and fundraisers. The Foundation aims to embody six core values: Excellence, integrity, impact, collaboration, joy and wellness.

USA Gymnastics has also recently announced its 2025 marquee events. It revealed that Providence, Rhode Island, will host the 2025 USA Gymnastics Championships from June 16–21 at the Amica Mutual Pavillion and the Rhode Island Convention Center. New Orleans has been selected to host the 2025 U.S. Gymnastics Championships and the National Congress and Trade Show, hosted by Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation at the Smoothie King Center, August 7–10.

New Orleans has been selected to host the 2025 U.S. Gymnastics Championships and the USA Gymnastics National Congress and Trade Show. The event, hosted by Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation, will be staged at the Smoothie King Center, August 7–10.

It will be the first time in 30 years that New Orleans has hosted the U.S. Championships. In 1995, three-time Olympian John Roethlisberger and Olympic gold medalist Dominique Moceanu were the men’s and women’s all-around champions. The event was first held in Louisiana in 1977, when Baton Rouge served as host.

“We are excited to bring our championships and National Congress and Trade Show to New Orleans,” USA Gymnastics President and Chief Executive Officer Li Li Leung said. “The post-Olympic year is when athletes begin their build toward 2028, when the Summer Olympic Games return to the United States for the first time since 1996. With its history as a host of world-class sporting events, New Orleans is a great setting for our biggest annual event.”

The championships will feature the country’s best junior and senior men’s and women’s gymnasts competing for national titles and to make the U.S. National Team, from which the roster for the 2025 World Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia, will be selected.

More than 2,500 attendees and exhibitors are expected to participate in the National Congress and Trade Show, which will be staged August 8–10 at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and is the educational hub for the gymnastics community. Hundreds of vendors also take part in the trade show, where gymnastics professionals can connect with vendors who provide goods and services to the community.

“With the U.S. team earning Olympic team gold by the women and bronze by the men, New Orleans is thrilled to welcome the first U.S. Gymnastics Championships since the Paris Games,” said Jay Cicero, president and CEO of the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation. “It has been 30 years since the Sports Foundation hosted the National Championships in 1995 at what is now known as the Caesars Superdome, five years prior to the opening of the Smoothie King Center. With the local and regional surge in popularity of gymnastics due to the success of the LSU National Champion program, we are looking forward to great crowds.”

The Maverik Center in West Valley, Utah, will host the Big 12 Conference Gymnastics Championships in 2025, 2026 and 2027, the league has announced.

Since the conference’s first season in 1997, the gymnastics championship has only been held at an off-campus site three times: 2004, 2016 and 2017. The 2025 season will be the first with a conference slate as Arizona, Arizona State and Utah joined the league with BYU, Iowa State, West Virginia and affiliate member Denver.

“The Big 12 Conference is excited to showcase our talented programs at such a prestigious location as the Maverik Center,” said Lisa Peterson, Big 12 vice president – Olympic competition. “The following behind women’s gymnastics is massive and along with an invigorating atmosphere at the championship, we’re able to introduce the conference experience to our newly expanded footprint.”

Maverik Center is the home of the Utah Grizzlies of the ECHL and has hosted many sporting events ranging from collegiate gymnastics to ice hockey during the 2002 Olympic Winter Games.

“Maverik Center has made it a priority to become one of the premier destinations for NCAA Gymnastics,” said Kevin Bruder, Maverik Center general manager. “We are honored to be hosting the Big 12 Championship and look forward to seeing some of the top gymnasts in the country showcase their talent at the Maverik Center in West Valley City.”

The 2025 Big 12 Gymnastics Championship’s two sessions will be held March 22 at noon and 5 p.m. local time. The first session will include the teams seeded fifth through seventh while the second session will feature the league’s top four ranked squads. The Big 12 conference schedule includes the seven teams competing in six duals during eight weeks, beginning January 17.