TAMPA, Fla. — The 2025 NCAA women’s Final Four is set to tip off at Amalie Arena on Friday, April 4, marking the fourth time the home of the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning has hosted the event.
With women’s sports gaining so much momentum in recent years, this year’s tournament is not just a crowning of champions, but a testament to the evolution and growing impact of women’s basketball.
The increasing popularity of women’s sports has brought heightened media attention, sponsors, and record-breaking attendance, all of which are shaping the future of female athletes.
Rebecca Lobo, a former WNBA player and current ESPN analyst who has made significant contributions to women’s basketball ever since her national championship victory with UConn in 1995, said it changed her life.
“All these opportunities are now here for these young women,” Lobo said.
ESPN reporter Holly Rowe said future generations will be able to look back at all the amazing players in women’s sports, which is going to help the growth of women in sports go that much further.
The 2025 Final Four matchups include the Texas Longhorns versus the South Carolina Gamecocks and the UConn Huskies versus the UCLA Bruins.
At a press conference on Thursday, April 3, many of the players from the different teams spoke about ways women’s basketball has impacted their lives as well as society.
Rori Harmon, a guard for Texas, spoke to how much more attention they are receiving now that women’s sports have become so popular.
“I remember when we had barely a thousand people come to our games, but now with the shift of being a woman athlete, our last three or four games have been sold out,” Harmon said. “Being a part of this movement and change is so important because we have to see what’s working now to continue that.”
Paige Bueckers, a guard for UConn, said that while progress has been made, there is still more that needs to be done. However, just being at the Final Four and being a woman in sports means everything.
“I think women deserve great things,” said Bueckers. “We should all be playing on an equal field where we all get the same amount of opportunities.”
Madison Booker, a forward for Texas, said when she was in elementary school, she wanted to shoot hoops with one of the guys.
“I remember he looked at me directly and said ‘girls don’t play basketball,’” Booker said.
Booker said that hearing those words was a blessing in disguise. It has shown how far the game has grown with it now becoming so popular and televised.
“We just got to keep embracing the game,” Booker said.
The surge in popularity of women in sports has led to major financial opportunities for female athletes. With the NCAA’s Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) policies that were founded in 2021, players can now profit from endorsements.
South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley was asked about the revenue sharing regulations that will be implemented in 2025-26 for power conferences and the impact of the types of programs that are capable of contending for Final Fours and championships.
Staley said, “We’ve been working the chaos for some time now that it just feels normal.”
As women’s sports have become so popular, it has created a community that these different players have that makes them perform and play better as a team.
Kiki Rice, a guard for UCLA, said how proud she is of her teammate Lauren Betts for coming back onto the court after dealing with struggles with mental health in 2024.
“From the first day in some workouts in the pre-season I could just tell what a different player she was and kind of the different confidence she had about her,” said Rice.
As the Final Four has taken center stage in Tampa, it’s clear that women’s basketball has become more than just another growing sport — it’s become a symbol of a force not to be reckoned with.
The Texas vs. South Carolina game will be played on April 4 at 7 p.m. EST, while UConn vs. UCLA will follow at 9 p.m. EST. Both games can be streamed on ESPN.
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Thumbnail Image courtesy of Emily McLaughlin.