Houston vies for the Women's Final Four

The folks at the Toyota Center want to bring the Women's Final Four to Houston.

Toyota Center is among 12 sites under consideration to host the women's basketball Final Four in 2012-16.

Finalists will be selected in August, and the host cities for the five-year cycle will be announced in November, the NCAA said Wednesday.

The group of cities to submit bids includes seven past hosts: Cleveland (2007), Indianapolis (2005), Kansas City (1998), New Orleans (1991 and 2004), Philadelphia (2000), San Antonio (2002) and Tampa, Fla. (2008).

Cities besides Houston seeking to host for the first time include Dallas; Denver; Columbus, Ohio; and Nashville, Tenn.

Houston officials submitted a bid for each of the five years. Toyota Center has a capacity of 18,043 for Rockets games.

"It's certainly a marquee event in the college landscape," said Doug Hall, vice president and general manager of Toyota Center.

After finalists are determined in August, NCAA officials will visit each city in September and October.

Each finalist will make a presentation to the Division I women's basketball committee in November.

We first heard about this back in January. The experience with the Men's South Regional finals this year was positive, and we've got a men's Final Four coming to town in 2011, so it's not like the city of Houston is virgin territory for this. And by 2012, most of the light rail expansion, which will include two east-west lines that will stop near the Toyota Center, will be in place as well. So I feel pretty confident we'll come away with something. I'll start saving up to buy tickets for the girls and me now.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on June 06, 2008 to Other sports