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There is every reason to assume that Phoenix or Portland will be chosen Wednesday as a first-time host of the NCAA Women’s Final Four basketball tournament.

The bigger question is whether the 10-member Division I women’s basketball committee is willing to go west in both 2025 and 2026, opting for both first-timers over previous Final Four hosts Columbus, Ohio, and Tampa, Florida.

A Women’s Final Four hasn’t been held in the West, since 2012 (Denver) and before that 1999 (San Jose). So particularly in context of a NCAA five-year strategic plan (2019-24) with a pillar to “grow the women’s basketball community,” a legitimate case can be made to select Portland and Phoenix, bringing the event to eager fans in the Northwest and Southwest.

Tampa is a three-time host, most recently in 2019. Columbus hosted for the first time in 2018. Upcoming host sites are San Antonio (2021), Minneapolis (2022), Dallas (2023) and Cleveland (2024). The 2020 Final Four, scheduled for New Orleans, was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

That growth objective wouldn’t be served by remaining in Ohio for consecutive years (2024 and 2025). But Phoenix is only bidding on 2026 (April 3-5, Easter weekend) so the committee could opt for Portland in 2025 then return to Columbus, with its advantage of being within driving distance from many states. Or perhaps Tampa in 2025 and a site in the West in 2026 holds the most appeal.

Phoenix was a finalist to host the 2007 Women’s Final Four but, in a decision made in 2001, lost out to Cleveland. 

Since then, hotel occupancy downtown has greatly increased, the Phoenix Convention Center tripled in size, a light rail system serves the area, Arizona State opened a downtown campus and Talking Stick Resort Arena — home of the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury — is currently undergoing a $230-million renovation.

Metro Phoenix hosted the NCAA Men’s Final Four in 2017 at State Farm Stadium and successfully bid for that event to return in 2024. The NCAA also selected Scottsdale to host the NCAA men’s and women’s golf championships at Grayhawk Golf Club from 2020 (cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic) through 2022.

The Super Bowl will return to State Farm Stadium in 2023. The Fiesta Bowl is part of the College Football Playoff semifinals rotation and the 2016 CFP championship game was held at State Farm Stadium. 

Bid and wait 

Phoenix bid organizers had a virtual site visit with the NCAA staff on Sept. 3 and a virtual final presentation to the committee on Sept. 23. Since then, it’s been a waiting game that former ASU golfer Brooke Todare co-chair of the local host committee, compares to her sport.

“One of the things our coach would always tell us is all you can do is post a number and wait,” Todare said. “That’s exactly what we did. We posted a number and it was a really good number, and now we just wait.”

Todare is happy with the bid process — “We left it all on the floor,” she said, using another sports analogy — and believes that selling Talking Stick Resort Arena as a basketball-first site opposed to playing in a football stadium went over well during the final presentation.

“We were able to see reactions when we presented some of those new renderings,” she said. “There was definite excitement about the truly phenomenal and beautiful renderings of this new area. I think they could envision themselves being there, and obviously that’s always encouraging.”

Phoenix is the only Final Four finalist with a WNBA team, the three-time champion Mercury. ASU, under 24-year coach Charli Turner Thorne, is a perennial NCAA Tournament qualifier with two Elite Eight appearances. Adia Barnes has elevated Arizona women’s basketball into the top 25. 

“For a (WBCA coaches) convention and fans traveling here, there’s everything to do,” Turner Thorne said. “It’s going to be beautiful weather, and we just have a good women’s basketball. Between the Mercury and us, we’ve proven over and over we can attract large crowds. I’ve been going for 30-plus years to Final Fours and conventions. I can’t think of anything that would be undesirable where you wish we had this or that. Certainly it would seem if they really want to branch us, it’s going to be us or Portland.”

Mercury general manager Jim Pitman said, “I’m pretty excited about what the Final Four could mean to women’s basketball in Phoenix. I think we made a really strong presentation and hopefully we get a favorable result.”

Portland, which previously had pro women’s basketball teams (ABL and WNBA), is the closest major city to college powers Oregon (2019 Final Four) and Oregon State (2016). The Moda Center hosted an NCAA women’s basketball regional in 2019 and, if not for the pandemic, would have hosted another regional in March. Portland was a semifinalist in its previous bid for the Women’s Final Four. 

Sport Oregon, a non-profit sports authority, Oregon State and the Portland Trail Blazers are organizers of the Portland bid.

The local organizing committee is responsible for raising funds to cover a $3-million or larger budget largely through corporate donations.

“We feel extremely comfortable with the community lift it’s going to take to pull this off successfully and meet all the obligations the NCAA is requesting,” Todare said. “It’s going to engage a different (corporate) group that maybe wouldn’t have traditionally engaged with a Super Bowl or Men’s Final Four.”

The last two Women’s Final Fours have generated roughly $20 million in direct economic impact per reports in Columbus and Tampa. 

The Women’s Final Four sites are just part of a large number of host announcements coming Wednesday in many NCAA sports for 2022-23 through 2025-26 across Divisions I, II and III.

More: Phoenix to make virtual bid presentation for Women’s Final Four on Thursday

Reach the reporter at [email protected] or 602-444-8053. Follow him on Twitter @jeffmetcalfe.

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