Sacramento is one of seven cities vying to host an NCAA women’s basketball Final Four

Sacramento is among seven cities bidding to host one of five NCAA women’s basketball Final Four tournaments, the NCAA announced Wednesday.

Portland, Indianapolis, San Antonio, Tampa, Dallas and Columbus, Ohio are the other finalists. The cities are vying to host the semifinals and the finals of the 2027 through 2031 tournaments, according to the NCAA.

Sacramento and Portland are the only West Coast cities hoping to host the Final Four.

“We are grateful to all of the cities that submitted bids to host future Women’s Final Fours,” said Nina King, chair of the committee and athletics director at Duke, in a news release. “The increased interest in this bid cycle, from so many cities throughout the country, is a result of the continuous growth of women’s basketball and support for this premier national women’s championship. We are confident that a Women’s Final Four held at any of these sites would flourish.”

The finalists will submit final bids by July 1. The NCAA will conduct site visits through September. A final presentation will be given to the committee in November, after which the NCAA will vote and announce future host cities.

Sacramento State athletic director Mark Orr said his school has already proven it can run a successful basketball event at Golden 1 Center. Sacramento State was the host school for two previous NCAA men’s tournament rounds at the downtown venue, and it would have been a third if COVID-19 hadn’t wiped out the 2020 tournament.

Sacramento State is the host school for the 2023 first and second round of the men’s basketball tournament.

That alone puts Sac State and Golden 1 on the NCAA radar for the Final Four, Orr said.

“We’ve hosted a lot of NCAA events, and I know our community will come out in droves to attend the Women’s Final Four,” Orr told The Bee on Thursday. “The Final Four is a whole different level, especially this year with the 50th anniversary of the passage of Title IX. It’s great that we’re one of the seven finalists, just awesome. It says something about Sacramento and Sacramento State.”

This story was originally published June 2, 2022 at 9:35 AM.