CLEVELAND — Getting ready for the Women’s NCAA Final Four in Cleveland has been a labor of love for those who have worked years to bring it here.
And it's almost time. News 5 anchor Rob Powers was at Tuesday morning's tip-off event.
Organizers say the goal is to outpace and outdo last year's Final Four. That will be a tough task with the eyes of the basketball world on Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse the first week of April.
“Very ready — that makes us feel great. We’re inside six weeks, and things feel very buttoned up,” said David Gilbert, president of the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission.
A discussion this morning at the arena tipped off the highly anticipated national semi-finals on April 5, with the title game on April 7, which is the “Mega premiere elite women’s sporting event in the world!” said Lynn Holzman, the VP of Women’s Basketball for the NCAA.
This is a homecoming for Holzman, who grew up in North Royalton — her father, a commercial roofer.
“There’s still this very deep sense of pride coming from this community, and to hear stories that my dad helped do the roof on the Terminal Tower, or some of the big buildings downtown, it’s something I say with a lot of pride, because that is hard work,” she said.
ESPN will broadcast the semi-finals. The championship will air here on News 5. The women’s college game has never been bigger; the storylines could be huge by the time the spotlight is on Cleveland.
Carolyn Peck, another native Clevelander, is on the broadcast team.
“This February, going into March, everybody better tune in, because anything can happen!” Peck said,
A strong sport with big storylines, players, teams, and fan bases is all organizers can ask for.
Over $22 million will pour into the local economy.
“Economic impact is really measured by outside spending in the community that otherwise wouldn’t be here,” Gilbert said. “So because this event has grown so much, we think once we get the study back, it’ll be well north of that number.”
The goal when the champion is crowned is for fans to say this was the best Final Four ever. A big job, with three big games to get it done.
