Dallas Leaders Show Excitement for 2023 NCAA Women’s Final Four at AAC Next Month

It’s been years in the making and organizers are getting ready to welcome back the NCAA Women’s Final Four to the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

These games will crown the college women’s basketball champions in all three divisions. The action starts March 31, but since Dallas won the bid in 2018 to host the 2023 games, there’s been a lot of work behind the scenes.

“It’s very exciting for me; you can feel the energy here in this room,” said Monica Paul, Executive Director of the Dallas Sports Commission. “It’s an incredible honor for us to be able to host this for the women’s basketball community and the NCAA staff to trust us to host this event again.”

Wednesday morning Paul, alongside Dallas City Council Member Omar Narvaez and executives from the NCAA and ESPN, spoke about the excitement of the games and what players, fans and the community can expect.

It’s not just about what’s happening on the court. Outside of the arena, there will be free activities for kids and adults including “NCAA Women’s Final Four Tourney Town,” which will have games interactive displays, food and entertainment at the Ka Bailey Hutchison Convention Center from March 30 through April 2.

There will also be pre-game events on the plaza, open practices at the American Airlines Center and a concert at AT&T Discovery District in downtown Dallas.

“We do big things in Dallas so I expect this NCAA Women’s final four will be the best of all time,” said Narvaez, Dallas Deputy Mayor Pro Tem, District 6.

The 2017 NCAA Women’s Final Four took place in Dallas six years ago. Paul said since then, the games have grown in popularity and expect this year’s event to have at least a $30 million impact locally.

“With the number of people we’re anticipating coming into town, the additional groups hosting events, we feel like we could exceed that $30 million,” said Paul.

These events also help keep the city on the map to host other events.

“Continuing to position our city and our region is very, very important because we always want to ensure that we’re always on a cycle in hosting the major events, the mega-events, we want them to say, ‘oh Dallas is a must-go-to city,” said Paul.

“Just last year, we held the WWE for the first time in three years and now we’re doing the Women’s NCAA Final Four. We’re a World Cup finalist city. I mean, things cannot get too sports in the city of Dallas,” said Narvaez.

Dallas will host the NCAA Women’s Final four again in 2031.

The Dallas Sports Commission said they are still in need of volunteers to help out with all the events. Click here to learn more and sign up.

Click here to find out the times and dates of the games and the free events.