City of Seattle, Seattle U Awarded 2023 NCAA D-I Women’s Basketball Regional

In partnership with the Seattle Sports Commission and Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle University has been awarded the 2023 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Regionals.

“Seattle University is thrilled to partner with the Seattle Sports Commission and Climate Pledge Arena to host the 2023 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Regionals,” says Director of Athletics Shaney Fink. “There is tremendous energy and passion for women’s basketball in Seattle and this announcement, days after the Seattle Storm claimed another WNBA Championship, feels like a wonderful reward for our community.”

“This is a tremendous opportunity for the state of Washington, the city of Seattle and Seattle U,” says women’s basketball Coach Suzy Barcomb. “We love the Seattle Storm and college basketball, so I would expect this to be a sell-out event and every visitor, fan and those programs lucky enough to be in the Final Four will walk away from the event and say, ‘job well done.’”

The city and the Climate Pledge Arena—formerly KeyArena—were also awarded the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball First and Second Rounds in 2025.

This is the third time for this specific NCAA championship bid process, which created the largest host site announcement ever, spanning 86 championships across a four-year cycle. Previously, selection announcements varied by sport. This process now gives the NCAA and host sites more time to plan each championship experience.

Bidding for 86 of 90 NCAA championships began in August 2019 and more than 3,000 bid applications were ultimately submitted. Each sport committee, per division, selected the host sites it believed would provide the ultimate experience for the respective student-athletes, resulting in more than 450 total championship event sites being awarded. More than 54,000 student-athletes compete in NCAA championships each year. The four championships not included in the process due to preexisting site arrangements are: Division I baseball, football and softball and Division III women’s ice hockey.