Arena News

COLUMBUS, OHIO - The NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee announced that Nationwide Arena has been selected as a first- and second-round host site for the 2009 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament. The Ohio State University will serve as tournament host.

After hosting the 2004 NCAA Men’s Basketball first and second rounds and having already secured the same event for 2007, the 2009 women’s tournament will mark Nationwide Arena’s third turn in five years as host venue for NCAA Basketball.

“Being selected as host venue for three NCAA tournaments in a span of five years is a direct result of the successful partnership between Nationwide Arena, The Ohio State University and our community partners,” said Eric Granger, Assistant General Manager of Nationwide Arena. “We look forward to our first chance to showcase women’s basketball at Nationwide Arena in 2009.”

Columbus is one of eight host cities for the 2009 tournament. The first- and second-round sites will host games either Saturday, March 21and Monday, March 23 or Sunday, March 22 and Tuesday, March 24, 2009. The 2009 Women's Final Four will be played in St. Louis.

Ohio State last played host to the first and second rounds of the NCAA Women’s tournament in 2004 when they welcomed Boston College, Eastern Michigan and West Virginia to St. John Arena March 20 and 22. Including the 2004 season, Columbus has played host to women's NCAA first-and second-round contests eight times, with all games played at St. John Arena.

2009 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament Site/Host(s):
The Pit/Bob King Court (15,932)/ University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, N.M.
Pete Maravich Assembly Center (13,394)/ Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, La.
Comcast Center (17,950)/ University of Maryland, College Park, Md.
Nationwide Arena (19,500)/ The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
Arena at Gwinnett (13,100)/ University of Georgia, Duluth, Ga.
United Spirit Arena (15,098)/ Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas
Galen Events Center (10,244)/ University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Calif.
Louis Brown Athletic Center (8,000)/ Rutgers University, Piscataway, N.J.

2009 NCAA Tournament Regional Sites/Hosts: The following regional sites will host games either Saturday, March 28, and Monday, March 30 or Sunday, March 29 and Tuesday, March 31, 2009:
Haas Pavilion (11,896)/ University of California, Berkeley, Calif.
Ford Center (18,929)/ Big 12 Conference, Oklahoma City, Okla.
RBC Center (19,722)/ North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N. C.
Sovereign Bank Arena (8,500)/ Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference & Trenton, N. J. Rider University

The exact dates for the sites will be announced at a later date.

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