Women’s Final Four Moving to Football Stadium in 2028

The women’s Final Four will be moving to an NFL stadium.

The 2028 women’s Final Four will take place at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, the NCAA announced Tuesday. 

It’s a major move for the governing body, which has overhauled women’s March Madness completely since a 2021 gender equity report revealed significant disparities between the men’s and women’s events.

“We are thrilled to see the Women’s Final Four return to an active NFL stadium for the first time in over two decades when it takes the floor in Indianapolis in 2028,” said Patrick Talty, president of the Indiana Sports Corp. “This stage not only elevates the experience for student-athletes, coaches and fans but also reflects the remarkable growth and momentum of women’s basketball.”

The governing body suggested it will not attempt to sell out the entire arena, however. It said it would sell about 31,000 seats. Lucas Oil Stadium can fit 70,000 for Indianapolis Colts games.

“The Women’s Final Four continues to sell out, and the public demand for tickets has steadily increased,” the NCAA said in a statement. “With the move from Gainbridge Fieldhouse to Lucas Oil Stadium, the event will gain approximately 13,000 seats. (Gainbridge Fieldhouse, where the NBA’s Pacers and WNBA’s Fever play, seats about 18,000 people.)

The men’s Final Four has been held in football stadiums since 1997, but the women’s event is usually held in basketball arenas. The last two women’s Final Four sites were Amalie Arena in Tampa and Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland. In 2026, the women’s Final Four will be held at the Suns’ PHX Arena in Phoenix; in 2027, it will be at Nationwide Arena in Columbus. Neither seats more than 20,000.

The women’s event has been held at the Alamodome in San Antonio, however, which is a football stadium but not an active NFL site and seats about 73,000, and was held at the RCA Dome—the former home of the Indianapolis Colts—in 2005.  

Lucas Oil Stadium, which has a capacity of 70,000 people, will be the site of the 2026 men’s Final Four.

The debate over where to hold the women’s Final Four is part of a much larger conversation about how to grow the sport. Industry experts have wondered if moving the women’s event to a football stadium would be good for the sport—though some prefer having any basketball game, men’s or women’s, in a basketball arena. 

The move is also a win for Indianapolis, which has hosted a growing number of sporting events over the last few years including the NBA and WNBA All-Star Games, swimming Olympic Trials, and other events. 

The NCAA also said that it will not change the first and second rounds of the women’s event until at least 2031. 

The first and second rounds of women’s March Madness have been hosted at campuses of higher seeds since 1982. The First Four, added in 2022, is also held at campuses. Then, in 2023, the NCAA began hosting the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight to two “super regional” sites. Despite positive attendance numbers, coaches like UConn’s Geno Auriemma have criticized the structure.

The NCAA considered changes, vice president Lynn Holzman told FOS this spring. But ultimately, the NCAA has opted to maintain the current setup.

This developing news story has been updated.