NCAA to move women's Final Four to Friday-Sunday format starting in 2017
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The NCAA approved moving the women's basketball Final Four to a Friday-Sunday format beginning in 2017.
The Final Four had that format from 1996-2002 before switching to the current Sunday-Tuesday model in 2003.
The NCAA also will move up the preliminary rounds by a day, with the first games of the tournament played on Friday.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The moves were made to help improve attendance, which has become stagnant over the past few years. Last season, the NCAA averaged 5,466 for all rounds — 17th since the tournament began in 1982.
The NCAA hasn't announced a site yet for the 2017 Final Four, but said last month that there were seven finalists for the 2017-2020 cycle — Columbus, Ohio, Dallas, Houston, Nashville, Tenn., New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Pa., and Tampa Bay, Fla.
This year's Final Four will be played in Nashville.