The NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, sometimes referred to as Women's March Madness, is a

single-elimination tournament A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, ...

played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 women's

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

teams from the Division I level of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA), to determine the national championship. The tournament was preceded by the

AIAW women's basketball tournament The AIAW women's basketball tournament was a national tournament for women's collegiate basketball teams in the United States, held annually from 1972 to 1982. The winners of the AIAW tournaments from 1972 to 1981 are recognized as the national ...

, which was organized by the

Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was a college athletics organization in the United States, founded in 1971 to govern women's college competitions in the country and to administer national championships (see AIAW Cham ...

(AIAW) from 1972 to 1982. Basketball was one of 12 women's sports added to the NCAA championship program for the 1981–82 school year, as the NCAA engaged in battle with the AIAW for sole governance of women's collegiate sports. The AIAW continued to conduct its established championship program in the same 12 (and other) sports; however, after a year of dual women's championships, the NCAA prevailed, while the AIAW disbanded. As of 2022, the tournament follows the same format and selection process as its men's counterpart, with 32

automatic bid An automatic bid is a bid or berth to a tournament, granted based on performance in prior competition, and not based on subjective picking (see: at-large bid). It is used in the United States in all professional sports, in which all playoff bids a ...

s awarded to the champions of the Division I conferences, and 36 "

at-large bid At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather tha ...

s" extended by the NCAA Selection Committee, which are placed into four regional divisions and seeded from 1 to 16. The four lowest-seeded automatic bids, and the four lowest-seeded at-large bids, compete in the

First Four The First Four is a play-in round of the NCAA Division I men's and women's basketball tournaments. It consists of two games contested between the four lowest-ranked teams in the field (usually the four lowest-ranked conference champions), an ...

games to advance to the 64-team

bracket A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. They come in four main pairs of shapes, as given in the box to the right, which also gives their n ...

in the first round. The national semi-finals, branded as the Women's Final Four, are traditionally scheduled on the same weekend as the men's Final Four, but in a different host city. Presently, the Women's Final Four uses a Friday/Sunday scheduling, with its games occurring one day prior to the men's Final Four and championship, respectively. Attendance and interest in the women's championship have grown over the years, especially from 2003 to 2016, when the final championship game was moved to the Tuesday following the Monday men's championship game. The tournament is often overshadowed by the more-prominent men's tournament; after a

gender equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality, gender egalitarianism, or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making, an ...

review following the 2021 tournament, the NCAA expanded it to the current 68-team format of the men's tournament and extended the "March Madness" branding to the tournament as well. The 2024 women's championship was the first to receive higher viewership than the men's championship the same year. Still, the tournament receives a smaller amount of funding from broadcast rights (which are held by

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

, and are pooled with those of other NCAA Division I championships besides golf and men's basketball) and sponsorship (which are sold by CBS and Turner Sports) than the men's tournament. With 12 national titles, the

UConn Huskies The UConn Huskies (or Connecticut Huskies) are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Connecticut, with its main campus located in Storrs, Connecticut. The school is a member of ...

hold the record for the most NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championships, which included four straight championships from 2013 through 2016. The team had also made the semi-finals for 14 consecutive tournaments. The

Tennessee Lady Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in Division I of the National Colleg ...

are the only team to make an appearance in every tournament since its founding in 1982.

Tournament format

From 1982 to 1990, 1996 to 2002, 2017 to 2019, and since 2021, the Women's Final Four is usually played on the Friday before the Men's Final Four or the hours before the men played on the final Saturday of the tournament. The final, since 2023, is played the Sunday afternoon following the Men's Final Four; from 2017 to 2019, 2021 and 2022, it was Sunday evening. The tournament bracket is made up of champions from each Division I conference, which are automatic bids. The remaining slots are

s, with teams chosen by an NCAA selection committee. The selection process and tournament seedings are based on several factors, including team rankings, win–loss records, and

NET NET may refer to: Broadcast media United States * National Educational Television, the predecessor of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States * National Empowerment Television, a politically conservative cable TV network ...

data. Since 2022, 68 teams qualify for the tournament played in March and April. Of these teams, 32 earn automatic bids by winning their respective conference tournaments. Since 2017 the

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

conducts its own post-season tournament. The remaining teams are granted "at-large" bids, which are extended by the

NCAA Selection Committee The selection process for college basketball's NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments determine which teams (68 men's and 68 women's) will enter the tournaments (the centerpieces of the basketball championship frenzy known as ...

. Dr. Marilyn McNeil, vice president/director of athletics at

Monmouth University Monmouth University is a private university in West Long Branch, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1933 as Monmouth Junior College, it became Monmouth College in 1956 and Monmouth University in 1995 after receiving its university charter, c ...

is the current chairwoman. On March 1, 2011,

Bowling Green State University Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a Public university, public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio, United States. The main academic and residential campus is south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized progr ...

's director of intercollegiate athletics, Greg Christopher, was appointed chair of the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee during the 2011–12 academic year. The tournament begins with four opening-round games known as the First Four. Like the men's version, the women's First Four involves the four lowest-ranked conference champions playing for 16 seeds in the round of 64, and the four lowest-ranked at-large teams playing for their own spots in the round of 64. The tournament is split into four regional tournaments, and each regional has teams seeded from 1 to 16, with the committee ostensibly making every region as comparable to the others as possible. The top-seeded team in each region plays the #16 team, the #2 team plays the #15, etc. (meaning that all first-round games involve teams whose seeds add up to 17).

Number of teams, and seeding

The first NCAA women's basketball tournament was held in

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

. The

AIAW The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was a college athletics organization in the United States, founded in 1971 to govern women's college competitions in the country and to administer national championships (see AIAW Cham ...

also held a basketball tournament in 1982, but most of the top teams, including defending AIAW champion

Louisiana Tech Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – Hig ...

, decided to participate in the NCAA tournament. The championship consisted of 32 teams from 1982 to 1985 (in 1983, 36), 40 teams from 1986 to 1988, and 48 teams from 1989 to 1993. From 1994 to 2021, 64 teams competed in each tournament. From 2022, the tournament will involve 68 teams, matching the size of the D-I men's tournament. Prior to 1996, seeding was conducted on a regional basis. The top teams (eight in the 32-, 40-, and 48-team formats, and 16 in the 64-team format) were ranked and seeded on a national basis. The remaining teams were then seeded based on their geographic region. Teams were moved outside of its geographic region only if it was necessary to balance the bracket, or if the proximity of an opponent outside of its region would be comparable and a more competitive game would result. In 1993, all teams except for the top four were explicitly unseeded. The regional seeding resumed in 1994. In 1996, seeds were assigned on a national basis using an "S-Curve" format similar to the process used in selecting the field for the men's tournament. The following table summarizes some of the key attributes of the seeding process:

Selection process

A special selection committee appointed by the NCAA determines which 68 teams will enter the tournament, and where they will be seeded and placed in the bracket. Because of the automatic bids, only 36 teams (the at-large bids) rely on the selection committee to secure them a spot in the tournament.

Women's NCAA Division I basketball champions

Team titles

Multiple NCAA championship coaches

NCAA Championship by conference

Note: Conferences are listed by all champions' affiliations at that time; these do not necessarily match current affiliations.

NCAA Final Four locations

* 1982 – Norfolk, Virginia * 1983 – Norfolk, Virginia * 1984 – Los Angeles, California * 1985 – Austin, Texas * 1986 – Lexington, Kentucky * 1987 – Austin, Texas * 1988 – Tacoma, Washington * 1989 – Tacoma, Washington * 1990 – Knoxville, Tennessee * 1991 – New Orleans, Louisiana * 1992 – Los Angeles, California * 1993 – Atlanta, Georgia * 1994 – Richmond, Virginia * 1995 – Minneapolis, Minnesota * 1996 – Charlotte, North Carolina * 1997 – Cincinnati, Ohio * 1998 – Kansas City, Missouri * 1999 – San Jose, California * 2000 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania * 2001 – St. Louis, Missouri * 2002 – San Antonio, Texas * 2003 – Atlanta, Georgia * 2004 – New Orleans, Louisiana * 2005 – Indianapolis, Indiana * 2006 – Boston, Massachusetts * 2007 – Cleveland, Ohio * 2008 – Tampa, Florida * 2009 – St. Louis, Missouri * 2010 – San Antonio, Texas * 2011 – Indianapolis, Indiana * 2012 – Denver, Colorado * 2013 – New Orleans, Louisiana * 2014 – Nashville, Tennessee * 2015 – Tampa, Florida * 2016 – Indianapolis, Indiana * 2017 – Dallas, Texas * 2018 – Columbus, Ohio * 2019 – Tampa, Florida * * 2021 – San Antonio, Texas * 2022 – Minneapolis, Minnesota * 2023 – Dallas, Texas * 2024 – Cleveland, Ohio * 2025 – Tampa, Florida * 2026 – Phoenix, Arizona * 2027 – Columbus, Ohio * 2028 – Indianapolis, Indiana * 2029 – San Antonio, Texas * 2030 – Portland, Oregon * 2031 – Dallas, Texas

Result by school and by year

Two hundred and eighty-three teams have appeared in the NCAA tournament in at least one year starting with 1982 (the initial year that the post-season tournament was under the auspices of the NCAA). The results for all years are shown in this table below. ;Notes

Tournament trends

Top-ranked teams

Since the women's tournament began in 1982, 20 teams have entered the tournament ranked #1 in at least 1 poll and gone on to win the tournament: * 1982: Louisiana Tech * 1983: USC * 1986: Texas * 1989: Tennessee * 1995: UConn * 1998: Tennessee * 1999: Purdue * 2000: UConn * 2002: UConn * 2003: UConn * 2009: UConn * 2010: UConn * 2012: Baylor * 2014: UConn * 2015: UConn * 2016: UConn * 2019: Baylor * 2021: Stanford * 2022: South Carolina * 2024: South Carolina

Champions excluded the next year

Only once has the reigning champion (the previous year's winner) not made it to the tournament the next year. * 1985 champion Old Dominion went 15–13 in 1986.

No. 1 seeds

Since 1982, at least one #1 seed has made the Final Four every year. Under coach Geno Auriemma, Connecticut has been seeded #1 a record 22 times. Tennessee is second with 21 #1 seeds. All four #1 seeds have made it to the Final Four 4 times (champion in bold): *

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

Auburn, Louisiana Tech, Maryland, Tennessee *

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Baylor, UConn, Notre Dame, Stanford *

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

UConn, Maryland, Notre Dame, South Carolina *

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

UConn, Mississippi State, Notre Dame, Louisville The championship game has matched two #1 seeds 15 times: *

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

USC beat Louisiana Tech *

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

Texas beat USC *

Tennessee beat Auburn *

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

Tennessee beat Virginia *

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

UConn beat Tennessee *

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

UConn beat Tennessee *

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

UConn beat Oklahoma *

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

UConn beat Tennessee *

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

UConn beat Stanford *

Baylor beat Notre Dame *

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

UConn beat Notre Dame *

Notre Dame beat Mississippi State *

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Baylor beat Notre Dame *

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

South Carolina beat Iowa Four teams have beaten three #1 seeds during the course of a tournament (the largest number of such teams that can be faced) (all three teams won the national championship as beating a 3rd #1 seed in a single tournament can only happen in the finals): *

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

Tennessee (beat Auburn, Long Beach State, Louisiana Tech) *

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

Louisiana Tech (beat Auburn, Tennessee, Texas) *

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

Baylor (beat LSU, Michigan State, North Carolina) *

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

UConn (beat USC, UCLA, South Carolina) Prior to the expansion of the tournament to 64 teams, all four #1 seeds advanced to the Sweet Sixteen with three exceptions. Notably, the first two times this occurred were at the hands of the same school: *

East #1 seed Virginia lost to #8 seed James Madison *

East #1 seed Penn State lost to #8 seed James Madison *

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

Midwest #1 seed Iowa lost to #8 seed Southwest Missouri State

High seeds

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

was the first time in tournament history (since the expansion to 64 teams) that all top seeds (1, 2, 3, and 4 seeds) made it to the Sweet Sixteen.

Low seeds

Teams entering the tournament unbeaten

Of the 20 teams who have entered the tournament unbeaten, 10 went on to win the National Championship. The first record here refers to the record before the first game of the NCAA tournament.

Undefeated teams not in the tournament

The NCAA tournament has undergone dramatic expansion since its first edition in 1982, and only one unbeaten team has failed to qualify for the tournament— California Baptist in 2021, which was 24–0 after winning the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

Tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

. As, by definition, a team would have to win its conference tournament, and thus secure an automatic bid to the tournament, to be undefeated in a season, the only way a team could finish undefeated and not reach the tournament is if the team is banned from postseason play. (Other possibilities are that the team is independent, or is from a conference not yet eligible for an automatic bid.) Postseason bans can come about for one of two reasons: * The team is serving a postseason ban due to NCAA sanctions. * The team is transitioning from a lower NCAA division, during which time it is barred by NCAA rule from participation in NCAA-sponsored postseason play. This is the case for California Baptist, which began a transition from Division II in 2018 and thus could not play in the NCAA tournament until 2023. California Baptist was eligible for the WNIT because that tournament is not operated by the NCAA, unlike the men's version (or the

Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament The Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT) is a women's national college basketball tournament inaugurated in 2024. It is operated in a similar fashion to the men's college National Invitation Tournament (NIT) and is run by the Nationa ...

introduced in 2024); the Lancers lost in the quarterfinals to eventual champion

Rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

Home state

Only one team has ever played the Final Four on its home court. Two other teams have played the Final Four in their home cities, and seven others have played the Final Four in their home states. The only team to play on its home court was Texas in 1987, which lost its semifinal game at the now-defunct Frank Erwin Special Events Center. Old Dominion enjoyed nearly as large an advantage in 1983 when the Final Four was played at the

Norfolk Scope Norfolk Scope is a multi-function complex in Norfolk, Virginia, comprising the 11,000-seat Scope Arena, a 2,500-seat theater known as Chrysler Hall, a modular exhibition hall, and a 600-car parking garage. The arena was designed by Italian arch ...

in its home city of

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, third-most populous city ...

, but also lost its semifinal. The Scope has never been the Monarchs' regular home court. ODU has always used on-campus arenas, first the ODU Fieldhouse and since 2002 Chartway Arena. The following year, USC won the national title at

Pauley Pavilion Edwin W. Pauley Pavilion, commonly known as Pauley Pavilion, is an indoor arena located in the Westwood Village district of Los Angeles, California, on the campus of UCLA. It is home to the UCLA Bruins men's and women's basketball teams. Th ...

, the home court of its

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

archrival UCLA. Of the other teams to play in their home states, Stanford (1992) won the national title; Notre Dame (2011) lost in the championship game; and Western Kentucky (1986), Penn State (2000), Missouri State (2001), LSU (2004), and Baylor (2010) lost in the semifinals.

Championship margins

* Overtime games in a championship game: ** Tennessee 70, Virginia 67/OT (1991) ** Maryland 78, Duke 75/OT (2006) * Smallest margin of victory in a championship game: 1 point ** North Carolina 60, Louisiana Tech 59 (1994) ** Baylor 82, Notre Dame 81 (2019) ** Stanford 54, Arizona 53 (2021) * Biggest margin of victory in a championship game: 33 points ** UConn 93, Louisville 60 (2013) * Margin of 10 points: Louisiana Tech (1982), Tennessee (1987 & 1989), Purdue (1999), UConn (2000, 2002, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 & 2025), and Baylor (2012) are teams to win every game in the tournament by 10 points or more on their way to a championship. The 2016 UConn team won every game by more than 20 points. * Top 10 largest point differentials accumulated over the entire tournament by tournament champion. Notably, Louisiana Tech's differential is prior to the expansion of 64 teams and the addition of one more round of play. ** 2016 UConn (+239) ** 2010 UConn (+214) ** 2013 UConn (+208) ** 2015 UConn (+197) ** 2025 UConn (+197) ** 2000 UConn (+187) ** 2002 UConn (+161) ** 2019 Baylor (+159) ** 1982 Louisiana Tech (+158) ** 2014 UConn (+156)

Same-conference championship games

7 championship games have featured two teams from the same conference (winner listed first and bolded): * 1989 SEC, Tennessee and Auburn * 1996 SEC, Tennessee and Georgia * 2006 ACC, Maryland and Duke * 2009

Big East The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

, UConn and Louisville * 2013

, UConn and Louisville * 2017 SEC, South Carolina and Mississippi State * 2021

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

, Stanford and Arizona

Television coverage and revenues

Broadcast rights to the NCAA women's basketball tournament are included in a larger package covering most NCAA Division I championships, outside of men's basketball (which is held by CBS and TNT Sports), and golf (which is held by

Golf Channel Golf Channel (also verbally referred to as simply "Golf" or "NBC Golf") is an American sports television network owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Founded in Birmingham, Alabama, it is currently ba ...

has held exclusive rights to the tournament since 1996; beginning with an 11-year, $200 million contract renewal in 2003, ESPN would televise all 63 games in the tournament on television (increasing from 23), with games in the first and second rounds airing regionally on

and

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially ...

. Out-of-market games were carried via

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program ...

. Coverage later expanded to include ESPN's college sports-oriented network

ESPNU ESPNU is an American multinational digital cable and satellite sports television channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remain ...

, and

ESPN360 ESPN3 (formerly ESPN360 and ESPN3.com) is an online streaming service owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which operates the network, through its 80% controlling ownership interest) and Hearst Communications (wh ...

for streaming. In 2011, ESPN renewed this agreement through the 2023–24 season, in a deal reported to be worth $500 million in total. The deal also included rights to the men's tournament outside of the United States for

ESPN International ESPN International is a family of Broadcasting of sports events, sportscasting and production networks around the world. It was begun in 1983, is operated by ESPN Inc. and owned by The Walt Disney Company. Current operations Canada ESPN Int ...

. In 2024, ESPN renewed the contract again through 2032 (aligned with the end of the media rights for the men's tournament), in an agreement valued at $920 million over eight years. In the first two rounds, one channel (typically ESPN or ESPN2's high-definition feed) typically aired "whiparound" coverage during each window, carrying rolling coverage of all games in progress. ESPN's standard definition channels were used to broadcast games on a regional basis, while games could also be viewed in their entirety on ESPN3 or alternate channels. In 2021, ESPN adopted a broadcast arrangement similar to the men's tournament, with all games airing nationally in their entirety on either an ESPN linear channel or, for the first time,

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

. The Women's Final Four and championship remained exclusive to ESPN. Beginning in 2023, the national championship game has aired on ABC. In data issued by the NCAA in 2021, it was stated that 15.9% of the value of the contract was allocated to the women's tournament, or approximately $6.1 million annually. In comparison, the contract for the men's tournament is valued at over $700 million annually. Amid scrutiny of inequality between the men's and women's tournaments that year, it has been suggested by critics that the structure of the NCAA's contract undervalues the media rights to the women's tournament. Based on average viewership, Emily Caron and Eben Novy-Williams of ''Sportico'' estimated that the women's tournament could fetch at least $20 million per year if its media rights were sold separately.

America East Conference The America East Conference (AmEast) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I whose members are located in the Northeastern United States. The conference is headquartered in Boston, Massachu ...

commissioner Amy Huchthausen argued that the ESPN contract "provides a measure of financial certainty, but it does not provide women's basketball (or any of the other sports, for that matter) an incentive to grow". Following major media criticism of inequities between the 2021 men's and women's tournaments, the NCAA commissioned a comprehensive gender equity review of its championships by the law firm Kaplan Hecker & Fink. Among the report's findings was that U.S. television rights for the women's tournament would be worth at least $81 million annually by the time the current broadcast contract with ESPN expires in 2024 (in comparison to the $34 million value of the NCAA package as a whole). In an interview on NBC's ''

Meet the Press ''Meet the Press'' is a weekly American television Sunday morning talk show broadcast on NBC. It is the List of longest-running television shows by category, longest-running program on American television, though its format has changed since th ...

'' on the day of the 2023 national championship, new NCAA president

Charlie Baker Charles Duane Baker Jr. (born November 13, 1956) is an American politician serving as the sixth president of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, since 2023. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 72nd governor of Massa ...

implicated that the media rights to the women's basketball tournament may be sold separately in the next rights cycle, stating that "we do have an opportunity to put it out separately, and we're going to work really hard to make sure that those student-athletes, those schools, those programs get what I describe as what they should get." Interest in

Caitlin Clark Caitlin Elizabeth Clark (born January 22, 2002) is an American professional basketball player for the Indiana Fever of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Regarded as one of the greatest female collegiate players, Clark was tw ...

's tournament run had led to record viewership of Iowa's Women's Final Four and championship games on ESPN and ABC, respectively. The 2024 National Championship even peaked at 24 million viewers, being the first time in history that the women's final drew more viewership than the men. Nevertheless, the NCAA renewed its existing agreements with ESPN in January 2024 under an eight-year agreement, with ESPN paying approximately $115 million per season, and the NCAA having valued the media rights to the Division I women's basketball tournament at $65 million. The agreement also includes expanded rights for ESPN to sell sponsorships (although CBS/WBD will still administer the NCAA Corporate Champion and Partner Program sponsorships per its rights to the men's tournament), and guarantees that the national championship will air on ABC annually.

References

External links

*
Attendance historyArchived

Division I Women's Basketball Championships Records Books (Through 2020)Archived
{{Major women's sport leagues in North America Postseason college basketball competitions in the United States Recurring sporting events established in 1982 College women's basketball competitions in the United States NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament Final Four

Tournament format

Number of teams, and seeding

Selection process

Women's NCAA Division I basketball champions

Team titles

Multiple NCAA championship coaches

NCAA Championship by conference

NCAA Final Four locations

Result by school and by year

Tournament trends

Top-ranked teams

Champions excluded the next year

No. 1 seeds

High seeds

Low seeds

Teams entering the tournament unbeaten

Undefeated teams not in the tournament

Home state

Championship margins

Same-conference championship games

Television coverage and revenues

See also

References

External links