Phoenix to bid on Women’s Final Four
Phoenix is taking a second shot at landing the NCAA Women’s Basketball Final Four.
The Phoenix City Council, at its Wednesday meeting, will consider a proposal to support a region bid to host the 2025 or 2026 women’s Final Four at what then will be renovated Talking Stick Resort Arena. If Phoenix is chosen as a finalist, the City Council must authorize the city’s participation.
Arizona State as host institution will be a partner in the bid as it was in successful bids for the men’s Final Four in 2017 and upcoming in 2024 at State Farm Stadium.
The NCAA Division I women’s basketball committee will name finalists for the 2025 and 2026 women’s Final Four in late January. Formal bids are due April 13 with the winning bids to be announced in late October.
Phoenix/ASU previously was a finalist to land the 2007 women’s Final Four but lost out to Cleveland in a decision made in 2001.
Since then, downtown Phoenix has an expanded convention center, added a light rail system and greatly increased the number of hotel rooms, the latter being given as the main reason that the previous women’s Final Four bid was not successful.
The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association convention also is held in conjunction with the women’s Final Four.
ASU women’s basketball coach Charli Turner Thorne said a Phoenix Final Four “would be amazing. Our community is a great women’s basketball community. Clearly the men’s Final Four is a huge hit. The women’s is a little bit more intimate. There’s not a bad seat in the house. It would easily sell out here.”
She continued: “It would be great for our program to bring the Final Four to our fans. I can’t imagine a better destination. It would be an incredible event.”
Women’s Final Four bids are accepted for an arena like Talking Stick, with a seating capacity of 18,000, or a stadium, like where the men’s Final Four now is always held.
Talking Stick Resort Arena, home of the Phoenix Suns and Mercury, is in the early stages of a $230-million renovation scheduled to be completed by the end of the 2020-21 NBA season.
The women’s Final Four has only been held west of Texas twice in the last two decades — in San Jose in 1999 and
Denver in 2005. San Antonio (2021) and Dallas (2023) are in the upcoming rotation to host the event.
Four of the first 11 women’s Final Fours were held in the west — Los Angeles in 1984 and 1992 and Tacoma, Wash., in 1988 and 1989.
Women’s basketball has succeeded at the college and professional levels in Arizona.
The Mercury have won three WNBA titles (2007, 2009, 2014) during the Diana Taurasi era. The ASU women’s team has made 14 NCAA Tournament appearances underTurner Thorne, reaching the Elite Eight in 2007 and 2009.
Arizona women’s basketball has rebuilt under coach Adia Barnes, winning the 2019 WNIT and currently ranked No. 18 nationally off the best start in school history.