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Countdown clock unveiled for 2026 NCAA Women’s Final Four with planning already long underway

By Jeff Metcalfe

The countdown clock, unveiled Tuesday at Sky Harbor Airport, showed 226 days until the 2026 NCAA Women’s Final Four, April 3-5 in Phoenix.

Which seems like sufficient preparation time until the realization that 135 days already have flown by since Connecticut dominated South Carolina to win its 12th national title, April 6 in Tampa. 

And that only 76 days are left until the Nov. 3 start of the upcoming season, one culminating 22 weeks later for the first time in Arizona.

Like the Arizona Major Events Host Committee well knows from past successes like two NCAA Men’s Final Fours, blockbusters come at you fast and the clock really begins to tick two years out.

“Even before our 2025 championship, we had already had multiple sessions and coming into town with the leadership here in Phoenix,” said Lynn Holzman, NCAA vice president for women’s basketball. “It become really intense very quick,” at the one-year mark with monthly site visits and weekly calls. 

“It’s not the Men’s Final Four. I say that with respect. We have to embrace the uniqueness around this event.”

 

That includes the majority of events including the games at PHX Arena being in downtown Phoenix. Men’s Final Four games were played at State Farm Stadium in Glendale.

An arena rather than stadium venue means tickets, on sale in October, will go fast and be hard to get for locals. That’s where ancillary events like Tourney Town, Super Saturday practice and concert and a youth dribbling event come into play to increase participation and engagement.

Like for a group of Junior Mercury Legacy League players in attendance Tuesday with the requisite grown-ups including Phoenix mayor Kate Gallego, Holzman, ASU athletic director Graham Rossini and women’s basketball coach Molly Miller and Jay Parry, CEO of the local organizing committee.

“Women’s sports is on such a phenomenal trajectory,” said Miller, in her first year at ASU after five (117-38 combined) at Grand Canyon. “Then to see what the Phoenix Mercury are doing, there’s four Division I teams in Arizona. It’s been really fun to be a part of that. Now the Final Four comes here, it’s a cherry on top of what we’ve already been building.”

Riley Pierson, a 10-year-old fifth grader, spoke on behalf of those aspiring to play basketball in college or beyond. “I love playing basketball because it’s a high energy sport,” Pierson said. “I also love making new friends and I try to be a great teammate.” 

She drew cheers for shouting out the Phoenix Mercury and her favorite player Diana Taurasi, who won three NCAA titles while at UConn before her 20-year WNBA career, all in Phoenix.

ASU is the host institution, as it was for the 2017 and 2024 Men’s Final Fours, and played a key role in the bid process. Phoenix was awarded the 2026 Women’s Final Four in October 2020, bringing the event to the West for the first time since Denver in 2012 and before that San Jose in 1999.

In 2001, Phoenix lost out on a bid for the 2007 Women’s Final Four primarily due to a lack of downtown hotel rooms to accommodate the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association convention.

Holzman said “getting west” has been an objective of the NCAA women’s basketball committee. Portland will host in 2030.

 

Total tournament attendance for the 2025 Women’s Final Four was 351,777, third highest ever and the fourth straight year topping 315,000. 

“We are on schedule with all the preparations and logistics,” Holzman said. “But there’s also a lot of lessons and learning. This is not the Women’s Final Four of 2018 or 2019. This isn’t going to be the Women’s Final Four of 2025 either. 

“When we talk about a new chapter and continuing our narrative around women’s basketball, there are expectations and that bar is raised every single year. Because our fans expect more and we expect more and the competitiveness of the communities, they want to one-up the city before. We are moving along the way we need to, but it’s also a different angle because this is the first time our event has come to the Phoenix area.”

 

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