Women's Final Four Championship leaves memories, lasting impact on Tampa Bay

Name: Women's Final Four leaving positive mark on Tampa
Uploaded: 2025-04-06T13:08:02-04:00
Description: FOX 13's Regina Gonzalez shares that the impact of hosting the Final Four is a big boost for the community and for economic growth in the Tampa Bay area.

Women's Final Four leaving positive mark on Tampa

FOX 13's Regina Gonzalez shares that the impact of hosting the Final Four is a big boost for the community and for economic growth in the Tampa Bay area.

TAMPA - From free fan experiences to transformed local basketball courts and events that inspired the next generation of young athletes, this year's NCAA women's final four championship will undoubtedly leave a mark on Tampa Bay forever.

This is about impact on community," said Bemetra Simmons, chair of the Tampa Bay Local Organizing committee. "Everything from the court dedication at the Young People Center, to the reading challenge where kids from all over Hillsborough County Schools participated in law, over six million minutes of reading, to all the economic development impact that's going to happen here in our community."

Women's Final Four Championship leaves memories and a lasting impact on Tampa Bay.

The backstory:

The event returned this week for a record-breaking fourth time thanks to the bidding efforts of the Tampa Bay Sports Commission.

"It's actually an event that we've been bidding on since 2003," explained Rob Higgins, Executive Director of the Tampa Bay Sports Commission. "Back then, we got awarded 2008, and fresh off the heels of that, we had the opportunity to land 2015, and then we got 2019. Now, six years later to be able to host our record fourth NCAA Women's Final Four is really special."

For Higgins and his team members, like vice president of events, Claire Lessinger, who also leads the committee that organizes the weekend tournament, showcasing Tampa to the NCAA takes a village.

READ: Young athlete meets UConn basketball star ahead Final Four in Tampa

But, with the way the city has transformed since the last championship, it was a no-brainer to bring it back...and it allowed them to create a prime destination experience for fans that didn't even have tickets to the game.

"We didn't have Armature Works, we didn't Sparkman Wharf, we didn't have Water Street in terms of the way that they live today," Lessinger added. "So just think about how that has changed dynamically for the fan experience downtown. And then from TPD to the city, taking these traditional events out to parks because we have the weather to do so. It allows us to shine a light on our destination. This is one of the biggest stages."

Women's Final Four Championship leaves memories and a lasting impact on Tampa Bay.

It's also expected to pump a lot of money back into the local economy.

"It's hard to predict right now, but if you look back to 2019, that event did around 16,000 hotel visitors a night, so the fact that we could surpass 23,000 really shows the growth of the event," Higgins told FOX 13.

The group is now looking forward to next year, when they host the first and second rounds of NCAA Men's March Madness.

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The Source: Information for this story was gathered by FOX 13's Regina Gonzalez.

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