Next week, for the 25th time in the last 26 years, the historic Greensboro Coliseum will host the Atlantic Coast Conference women's basketball tournament.
The ACC has established itself as one of the sport's finest leagues, and tournaments at the heart of its footprint are often its showcase. Over 9,100 fans packed the Coliseum for the title game last season Notre Dame NC State and 679,000 people monitored ESPN, making it the most viewed ACC women's championship to date. Over 67,000 fans totaled to the Coliseum over five days of the tournament, welcoming the highest attendance since 2009. In a conference tournament at Women's College Basketball, the ACC marks its 48th edition this year.
It's easy to create ACC as the best meeting in women's college basketball. Since 2014, the ACC has won 130 NCAA tournaments, most conferences. In each of the last 22 NCAA tournaments, at least one team has advanced to the Elite 8. This is the longest winning streak in a meeting. Since 2019, no exception is Stanford's 2021 national championship victory – four different ACC teams have made it to Final 4.
And Greensboro, North Carolina, has long been its home and was the beginning of March's madness for a meeting.
“We are the standard for the women's basketball tournament at the postseason conference, and credit to the ACC office that has committed to Greensboro and women's basketball.” I said it last year. “Greensboro supports our products so much, and before women's basketball gets as hot as it is now. You know, they stepped up first…and that's a big deal for me. It has meaning.”
In fact, Greensboro, the city where the ACC was founded, holds more conference women's basketball tournaments than anywhere else.
However, the tournament is moving. In 2027, it will be held in Charlotte, where ACC is new headquarters.
And in 2026, the options look endless and the ACC has yet to decide where the game will be played.
“2026 has not been announced yet, but it has not been confirmed yet,” Senior Vice Commissioner Jackie Carson For the ACC, women's basketball said. “Hopefully we will be able to announce 2026 in the near future, but nothing is confirmed right now.”
Talk about the tournament and its future Women's basketball podcastCarson said the coaches have long asked the ACC to “explor some other options.” The men's basketball tournament has moved to Charlotte, Greensboro, Atlanta, Brooklyn, Tampa and Washington, D.C. over the past 20 years, but the women's tournament has only left Greensboro once. It was called the bathroom bill that often discriminated against trans people in 2017 when the ACC and NCAA pulled all championships from North Carolina in response to House Building 2, and made a women's tournament in Conway, South Carolina. I've sent it.
In 2026, Carson says Greensboro is still an “optional” but added, “Many people want to see ACC women's basketball move to their cities.” .
It bouncing off a bit before Greensboro became a regular home for the tournament. The first ACC Women's Basketball Tournament was held at an on-campus venue, with Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland and Clemson holding their first five times. It then took place in Fayetteville, North Carolina for nine years, with the next five in Rock Hill, South Carolina. After three years of stints in Charlotte, he arrived in Greensboro.
However, with women's basketball attendance and viewers booming, tournaments like this are in much more demand than they were 25 years ago.
“It's nice to be able to want it and expand it a little,” Carson said. “Greinsboro was an absolute great host. If we were to leave, that would be difficult, but (Greinsboro) was always home to us and the Coliseum was absolutely incredible.”
If ACC leaves Greensboro Coliseum, there are several venues in the traditional footprint that might make sense to host the 2026 edition of the tournament.
One is located in the Gas South Arena, on the outskirts of Atlanta in Duluth, Gwinnett County, Georgia. With 13,100 fans in attendance, it is the long-standing home of Georgia's Atlantagradiator minor league hockey team and the state's basketball and wrestling championships. Hosted the SEC Women's Basketball Tournament and Game 3 in 2010 WNBA The 2013 final.
If you don't mind giving Louisville the kind of home court advantage that North Carolina teams have given over the past decades, then KFC Yum! The center makes a lot of sense. The Modern Arena was built in 2010 and has a maximum of 22,090 basketball seats. Hosting the NCAA Men's Tournament Games, Jeff Waltz's Cardinals have led the ACC over the past seven seasons.
Other options include Jacksonville, Florida (the 14,091-seat Vister Veterans Memorial Arena that hosted three men's NCAA tournaments) and the new Glen City Arena near Richmond, Virginia, if completed by 2026. Masu. 2026 meeting.
“I love how women's basketball has grown at the national and college level, but there's something special about women's basketball at ACC,” he said, and has worked for two years since coaching 13 seasons at Furman. Carson said. “So far, we have a record number that recognizes that. So join us.”
