NEWS: NCAA announces sites for 2027 and 2028 Division III WBB championships
For the first time since 2018, the Division III women’s basketball Final Four is heading to the Midwest.
Per an announcement from the NCAA early this afternoon, the 2027 D-III WBB Final Four will be held in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with the 2028 semifinals returning to Salem, Virginia, where the 2025 and 2026 Final Fours are set to be played. As I reported previously, the 2028 national championship game will be part of a combined event in Indianapolis with the D-I Final Four and D-II title game.
The return of the Final Four to the Midwest is an excellent move, with the popularity of women’s hoops in Iowa and the proximity to a number of current power conferences in D-III. Cedar Rapids is located in the eastern part of the state, meaning it is within reasonable driving distance from Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota. Not to mention the fact that the A-R-C is composed of several top-tier programs from Iowa itself. With the strength of the WIAC, CCIW, MIAC, and A-R-C, it’s very possible we could see at least one, if not two, programs play for a national championship just a few hours from their campus in 2027.
The last time a D-III WBB Final Four was played in Iowa was 1993, when Central hosted the event and won its first national title.
The 2027 Final Four will be played inside the spacious Alliant Energy PowerHouse, which seats 9,000 for basketball. It will be the largest venue ever for a Division III Women’s Final Four.
The announcement also means that Salem will become a fixture in the Division III basketball world for the near future, with the Cregger Center hosting the national semifinals in three of the next four seasons. Salem hosted the 2019 D-III WBB Final Four as well. The Cregger Center is a state-of-the-art 2,500 seat venue on Roanoke’s campus, with a picturesque view on one end of the court at the mountainous landscape behind the arena.
Ultimately, I really like the way this turned out. Both Cedar Rapids and Salem have hosted Division III championships before (Cedar Rapids has previously hosted both the wrestling and baseball national finals) which is a major plus, along with the fact that both communities support small-college basketball well. I’m excited to cover these events in the future as Division III women’s hoops continues to grow in popularity and in the attention it receives.
» The complete press release from the NCAA can be found here.