The NCAA automatic berth is given to the winner of the SEC Baseball Tournament, which was first started in 1977. It is a double-elimination tournament and seeding is based on regular season records. Since 1998, the tournament has been held at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Hoover, Alabama and contested under the format used at the College World Series from 1988 through 2002, with two four-team brackets leading to a single championship game. The winner receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament.