Talking Stick Resort Arena could host 2026 NCAA Women’s Final Four

We are down to the final four to host the 2026 NCAA Women’s Final Four and Phoenix, Arizona is among that final four.

Your Phoenix Suns, along with the city of Phoenix, Phoenix Mercury, Arizona State University and the Phoenix Convention Center collaborated on the pitch.

Those pitches are virtual and Phoenix took its turn wooing the NCAA on Thursday.

“We’ve spent hundreds of hours preparing. It’s definitely a different presentation than previous bids,” local host committee co-chair Brooke Todare told KTAR News 92.3 FM.

“The championships have really become part of the core DNA of who we are as a state,” Todare said. “It’s why we so badly want to add this one to our lineup, if you will.”

Lesser cities like Columbus, Ohio, Portland, Oregon, and Tampa, Florida are competing with Phoenix to host the March, 2026 event. Those cities will also be evaluated virtually. Perhaps using dial-up internet. That’s neither been confirmed, nor denied.

The men’s tournament comes to Phoenix in 2024. The women’s dance being hosted out west doesn’t happen very often. Since the first tournament in 1982 in Norfolk, Virginia that’s only occurred five times. That’s if we don’t count the 2012 event in Denver, Colorado, and for the purposes of this statement we are not.

Playing host to gigantic college sporting events is nothing new to Phoenix whether it’s the men’s Final Four or the College Football Playoff.

“The championships have really become part of the core DNA of who we are as a state,” Todare said. “It’s why we so badly want to add this one to our lineup, if you will.”

We’ll know if Phoenix is a winner in October.

“We’ve got the right community partners … to host a top-notch championship,” Todare said.