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NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 14, 2008

RICK NIXON: Thanks to all for joining us for today's media telephone conference call to announce the sites for the 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 Women's Final Four. With us today with NCAA vice president for Division I women's basketball, Sue Donohoe, and chair of the NCAA women's basketball committee Jacki Silar, who's also associate director of athletics the Duke University.
JACKI SILAR: Good afternoon. This has been a very exciting time for the Division I Women's Basketball Championship and the women's basketball committee as we announce the five cities that have been chosen to host the Women's Final Four in the years 2012 through 2016. The committee has selected the city of Denver to host in 2012, followed by New Orleans in 2013, Nashville in 2014, Tampa Bay in 2015, and Indianapolis in 2016.
The women's basketball committee invested a tremendous amount of time and effort in the Women's Final Four site selection process over the past year. It was the committee's charge to determine which of the prospective cities would best serve as future hosts for the pinnacle of women's basketball, the Final Four.
The five cities selected will serve the championship well and be a part of the tremendous growth of this extraordinary event.
This process began with 12 cities bidding for the Women's Final Four. Eight finalists were named in August of 2008. Site visits were conducted in each of the finalist cities. Final presentations were conducted this week in Indianapolis. The process was comprehensive and fair to all cities involved. The committee was very pleased with the participation by all of the cities, and it was a very difficult decision on which five cities would emerge as our future sites for the Women's Final Four.
We commend each of the cities and their bid committees for their hard work throughout the process. We appreciate each of you joining us today, and we'll be glad to answer any questions that you may have.

Q. I was wondering if both of you could talk about the positives you saw in the Big 12 Dallas bid and maybe some of the reasons why that bid came up short.
JACKI SILAR: I'll be happy to. Dallas, "live large and think big," that's the mentality that was noted by the committee, and the city was certainly a strong contender for the Women's Final Four. The committee was impressed by the American Airlines Center, the convention center and numerous upscale hotel properties, and the entertainment outlets, including your new arts and entertainment complex, which is an exciting development for your city.
It wasn't so much what they did or didn't do; the hardest part of this is the fact that there were eight cities, and all of them would have made excellent -- they all made excellent presentations, and when it came down to it, we only could select five.

Q. The Tampa Bay one, what facility is that going to be in?
JACKI SILAR: The Tampa Bay will be in the St. Pete Times Forum.

Q. But that's in Tampa, right?
JACKI SILAR: That's correct.

Q. And what were the elements that helped New Orleans be successful?
JACKI SILAR: New Orleans is a major sports destination city. The 2013 Women's Final Four will enjoy the New Orleans rich history of hosting major sporting events in the city that is truly different from most others. New Orleans provides a compact and workable environment for our event, which is really important. It's a fan favorite, and people find a way to go back to New Orleans time and time again, and we feel that our student athletes, our coaches and fans will, again, enjoy the hospitality of this city.

Q. You picked two new cities, and obviously considered a couple of others. New Orleans' experience, was that a major factor in your decision?
JACKI SILAR: Say that again?

Q. You picked two new sites in Denver and Nashville and you had a couple other strong contenders, Dallas and Columbus. Was New Orleans' experience in host of these type of bids, how big a factor was that in their favor?
JACKI SILAR: Well, the committee looks at 12 different criteria, and that obviously is one of them. We know that they are experienced hosts and proven partners of the NCAA and the Final Four, and the committee was impressed with that city for their ability to underline the importance of the event in their community and the essential elements in providing a memorable experience for the student athletes.

Q. Obviously the same localized question. What went into Denver's successful bid? Specifically, how did it draw the first one on the calendar? Was the success in running the Democratic Convention any part of that? Could you elaborate?
JACKI SILAR: Absolutely. Denver is an exciting and appealing city in the backdrop of the Rocky Mountains. We know our student athletes and coaches and fans will enjoy the time that they're going to spend at the Final Four in 2012, and we were impressed -- the committee was impressed by the accessibility of downtown Denver, where the hotels, the restaurants, the Pepsi Center, the convention center are all located within this one-mile loop, and we know our fans will have a numerous entertainment options to choose from in the downtown area.
Denver is noted for hosting -- recently hosting the '08 Men's Final Four, Frozen Four, and the '08 first and second rounds in the Division I men's basketball championship as well as some numerous conference tournaments.
Their ability to move a large number of people in their transportation plan was important. That's one of our criteria that we look at. So we were very impressed with them.
And how they got to be 2012, basically not every city can host in each year, so once we select them, then we place them into the years.

Q. Just to clarify earlier, I want to make sure who it was commenting earlier first off about the Dallas bid.
RICK NIXON: That was Jacki Silar, the women's Division I basketball committee.

Q. Just to follow up earlier on what you were saying about the Dallas bid, is there something you can specifically pinpoint, though, that kind of raised questions on concerns about the Dallas -- was it traffic congestion, just all the different things that are going on in Dallas that may take fans away from it? Was there something specific that drew concern for you?
JACKI SILAR: The committee, the members of the committee, evaluate each city based on a different criteria. It's a ten-member committee, and each person weighs each element according to what's important within the different criteria.
So looking at the criteria that we look at when each city puts forth a bid, competition, venues, the financial commitment, proposed Final Four footprint, the hotel community, the airport and its ability to get fans and teams and NCAA guests and WBCA representatives in and out of the city, your convention center, successful hosting experience, special events venue, opportunity to develop a legacy program, the community commitment and engagement, vision and creativity of the bid, and the potential bid city's ability to enhance the student athlete experience.
So it's a combination of all those things, because the Women's Final Four is so much more than just three basketball games; it's about multiple auxiliary events that are conducted throughout the week, the Women's Basketball Coaches Association convention and legacy program, so it's a combination of a lot of things.

Q. So within that, though, there wasn't anything that just raised your concerns from those criteria that you mentioned?
JACKI SILAR: No, sir.

Q. Along the same lines, when listening to the Denver answer and the New Orleans answer, I hear two words, experience and accessibility. How big of a concern were those, particularly for Dallas?
JACKI SILAR: In particular for Dallas, like I've sort of said in the past, Dallas, Columbus and San Antonio, the three that did not get the bids, they did a great job of their presentation and preparing for their bid. Their city's opportunity to host a future Final Four is definitely there for them. Each city had the ingredients that the committee seeks in a Women's Final Four, and we had the difficult task of just selecting five, but we certainly encourage each of these cities to submit a future bid.

Q. But if there was an area where they would have to kind of go back to the drawing board or just improve a little bit more, are accessibility and experience among those, or what is it?
JACKI SILAR: Well, for Dallas, they do have a lot of experience. They do host the Big 12 conference tournaments, and they do have that ability of selection, of hosting opportunities, and their experience is not something that is just one -- it's one of many.
So if they had to go back to the drawing board, it wasn't so much what they didn't do, it was just the hardness -- a hard decision to select the five.

Q. What about accessibility?
JACKI SILAR: Well, accessibility with getting to the city or within the city?

Q. Yeah, something that jumped out. Like you said, the Denver bid, everything was within a mile of each other. With Dallas, the American Airlines is kind of set up different and the hotels and everything like that. I wonder how much of a factor that was, accessibility.
JACKI SILAR: Well, like I said before, it was one of the 12 criteria that we look at, and successful hosting experience was one of them, so it's just one of the 12 that we look at. There isn't any importance of one over the other.

Q. I have two questions, one just about the decision. I'm wondering, will the 2016 Final Four be in the dome there in Indianapolis? And also, just the move away -- it seems like there's a move away from domes after we moved toward domes a little bit. If you could talk about that first. And then also the last time the Final Four was in a Pacific time zone was 1999, and now you're going out to 2016 without going back there. Is that for lack of good bids out there or television concerns or what?
JACKI SILAR: I'll answer your first question about the domes. As a committee we evaluate the competition venues as one of the criteria. Our minimal seating capacity for the Women's Final Four is 18,000, and the Women's Final Four has been played in the past obviously in dome stadiums, and this will continue in the future with San Antonio hosting in the Alamo Dome in 2010.
You said about the time zone for where?

Q. Is the 2016 Final Four going to be in the dome in Indianapolis?
JACKI SILAR: As we continue to evaluate what is the best venue for our game, for the student athlete experience, for the fan experience, we're fortunate enough that there are two outstanding venues in Indy, so that will be determined.

Q. And then in terms of the time zone, the last time you had a Pacific time zone -- you're going to go out west with Denver in the mountains. The last time you had a Pacific time zone for Final Four was 1999. I'm wondering, you're going out to 2016 without going back there. Is there a lack of -- have you seen a lack of good bids out of the Pacific time zone? Is it a television concern, or can you pinpoint anything?
JACKI SILAR: Well, in this particular bid cycle we had 12 cities, and the furthest west bid was coming from Denver. We're not seeing those bids from the west. We would like to see them, but we're not seeing them at this point in time.

Q. You don't see that being a problem, though, in terms of television? That's not a concern with the late time starts? If you got a good bid, that wouldn't prevent anything or be a negative for the bid?
JACKI SILAR: Absolutely not. It's not part of our criteria, and it would not be a negative. We would look forward and invite the west coast to put forth bids.

Q. I just want to ask about the decision to bring the tournament back to Tampa in 2015 and what specifically you guys were impressed with with the event being here this past year.
JACKI SILAR: Tampa hosts 18 million visitors a year, and the city has proven to be a terrific host for the Women's Final Four. They did a tremendous job, and we were very, very impressed with their hosting abilities this past year for the Final Four and by the overall commitment to our event and its plans to help take the Women's Final Four to new levels when it returns in 2015.
The committee noted many new and exciting developments like the Tampa River Walk and the hotel community development. Tampa has an outstanding history of hosting major sporting events, and we were very pleased to be a part of their history and their future opportunities.

Q. Basically just the same type of local question for the Nashville site. One thing I believe I heard you mention was just the local community and their excitement for women's basketball, and the state of Tennessee from east to west has that. How big of a factor is that in your site selection?
JACKI SILAR: Well, I hate to keep going back to our criteria, but you know, opportunities and the commitment from the community are all important as we look at the bid proposals. You know, for Nashville, because of their history in hosting women's basketball first and second rounds as well as the women's regional and the support that they get in that state was important.

Q. I have a couple questions. First of all, how closely did you guys work with the men's committee in terms of coordinating the cities with multiple bids for both the Men's Final Four and the Women's Final Four in the same years?
JACKI SILAR: Both committees have been engaged in this year-long process with collaboration, coordination and communication. Both committees have had difficult decisions to make, and we have made our, obviously, decision on our five, and it's our understanding that their announcement will be coming during the early part of next week.

Q. I guess what I'm asking is was there ever a situation where one committee's choice was dependent on the other's in terms of we want this city, City X in this year, so you guys can't have them? Or how did those discussions develop?
JACKI SILAR: As we go through the process of selection in Indianapolis, the NCAA women's staff as well as the NCAA men's staff stay in close communication with one another.

Q. And in terms of San Antonio's women's bid having the tournament in 2010, did that play into it at all in terms of them still having one in a couple years, or what were your thoughts in general on San Antonio's bid?
JACKI SILAR: Well, San Antonio, what a great city. It's a destination city; it has a rich hosting history. The bid committee made another strong presentation to us, and we're really looking forward to coming to the Alamo Dome in 2010 for the Final Four, and we're already in the process of planning for that celebration of our game.
The committee was extremely impressed by the number and the quality of the hotels, the convention center, the renovation that has taken place in the Alamo Dome as well as the international airport there. San Antonio has been a great host for us in the past, and we look to San Antonio to continue to be a part of our championship in the future. It's a fan favorite, and it has extraordinary leadership.

Q. Is there a possibility that this one in 2010 -- I guess it is the last one for sure scheduled for a dome stadium, correct?
JACKI SILAR: For sure? That is correct.

Q. And I apologize, I can't tell the difference between your voices. Who was I talking to during this time?
JACKI SILAR: Jacki Silar.

Q. You mentioned the attractiveness of some of these venues. You mentioned the Rocky Mountains, the fact that New Orleans is attractive to tourists and San Antonio being a destination city. Do you think that Columbus' city's lack of a tourist destination hurt their bid relative to these other cities?
JACKI SILAR: I don't think so. The committee came away from the bid process, and they were very impressed with Columbus. They have many options with their vibrant college community. They have a great downtown development as a sports town mentality that exists in that city, and the community-wide commitment and the potential legacy program, the hospitality, the spirit, the passion, that all showed through Columbus when they did their presentation as well as their site visit.

Q. What about the hotels right around Nationwide Arena? Was that acceptable to the committee? Or should there have been another -- there's been a move here to try to build another convention-sized hotel, 600, 700, 800 rooms. Is that something somebody looked at and found was maybe a bit of a negative for Columbus?
JACKI SILAR: No, Columbus would not have made it as a finalist if they didn't have the necessary housing that we would need to host a Women's Final Four.

Q. I guess kind of a general question. How difficult is it to break into the rotation? I'm just noticing Tampa is going to have two in seven years; San Antonio is having two in eight years; Indianapolis with this new announcement is going to have three in about an 11-, 12-year period. Is it difficult for a new city and venue to break into the rotation? I know you've got two new ones in this announcement, but how difficult is that?
JACKI SILAR: I don't think it's difficult at all. We're always looking for cities who meet our criteria, and we're always looking for new cities and old ones, as well, because that's important for our game to take it to new cities to allow all the auxiliary events that encompass the Women's Final Four, which is so much different than the Men's Final Four to have communities engaged.
I think it's important that our cities in the West Coast as well as in the East Coast look forward to putting in bids in the future.
SUE DONOHOE: One thing I wanted to mention is in previous bid cycles we've had cities that have been first-time bidders and they weren't successful in their first attempt, and we gave the encouragement to those cities, just as we do to Columbus and Dallas who are first-time bid cities, to come back and get involved with us when we go into the next cycle, and those cities that we gave that encouragement to in past bid cycles have come back and subsequently been awarded in future cycles.
You know, for first-time bidders, there is a learning process as we go through the process, but certainly we would encourage Dallas and Columbus and any other first-time cities in the future to remain a part of the process.

Q. And also, I know in the past that sometimes, I guess, maybe both -- at least on the men's side sometimes, they have decided to maybe award an extra year. Was that set in stone as far as the five-year rotation, and with so many good bids, was there ever a discussion about maybe we've got six that deserve it; we've only got five slots, so maybe we should just award a sixth Final Four at this time? Was that ever on the table?
JACKI SILAR: No, that was never on the table.

Q. How does that get decided? I mean, is that just an, okay, we're going to do five years?
JACKI SILAR: I will defer that to Sue.
SUE DONOHOE: We look at really -- for both us and the men's side, we look at where we are within a cycle. We try and project far enough out. On the women's side it's a little bit different because our game is in such a growth phase, and for us to go out too far -- although 2016 seems like a long way away, we didn't want to go too much further out than that because as our game continues to grow, our needs for the Women's Final Four continue to change.
You know, there's no magic to would we have selected four years or five years in the cycle. There's no magic to that. Originally we had looked at fewer years, selecting fewer years, but decided with the amount of effort and time and energy that it takes for a bid city to go through this that we would try and name out five years.

Q. I'm sorry to double check on this, but I was looking at past releases from the NCAA and they list Lucas Oil Stadium as the home site for when Indianapolis has the Final Four, both in 2011 and 2016. Are both of those still temporary? 2011 might not be at that stadium, either?
SUE DONOHOE: You know, similar to what we did back in 2003 when we selected St. Louis at that time, we determined that we had the option between what's now the Scott Trade Center and the Edward Jones Dome. We're in a similar situation here, although Lucas Oil has been named. We had the opportunity to visit with our city leaders and our state leaders to really look at two really good facilities and determine what best meets our needs right now. We've got Conseco Field House, Lucas Oil Stadium. They're both outstanding venues that offer different amenities to us, and so it's a good spot to be in because we do have that option to look at both venues for both '11 and for '16.

Q. And when would you make that decision for 2011? Do you have a deadline set for when you'd want to make the call between the two facilities?
SUE DONOHOE: I would say it would be sometime early in 2009.

Q. One last question. What about the New York area? Has there been any movement to have a Final Four there? Obviously the Final Four was in Boston, it's been in Philly, but in the greater New York area has there been a viable bid?
JACKI SILAR: Not in this bid cycle there hasn't been, and this is the only bid cycle that I've been a part of.

Q. Is that an area that you would like to see maybe have a more competitive bid in the future just because of obviously the media capital of the United States being there?
JACKI SILAR: I think any city that puts forth a bid, as long as they can fulfill the criteria that we have in place, we would certainly give them a good look.
RICK NIXON: Thanks so much. I appreciate everybody for joining us today. Just a reminder that we will have the transcript from today's call available at NCAA.com here in the next half hour to 45 minutes. If you have any questions or any concerns, please get a hold of me at my email address at RNixon@NCAA.org. Have a great week, everybody.

End of FastScripts

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