{"id":245986,"date":"2026-04-01T01:42:36","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T01:42:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/245986\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T01:42:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T01:42:36","slug":"south-carolina-defeats-tcu-in-elite-8-future-of-ncaa-tournament-in-sacramento-uncertain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/245986\/","title":{"rendered":"South Carolina Defeats TCU in Elite 8, Future of NCAA Tournament in Sacramento Uncertain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Got story updates? Submit your updates here. \u203a<\/a><\/p>\n

\"AThe vibrant, fractured energy of the NCAA women’s tournament in Sacramento hints at the city’s potential to host future March Madness events.Today in Sacramento<\/p>\n

The 2026 NCAA women’s basketball tournament held a successful weekend in Sacramento, California, with the South Carolina Gamecocks defeating the TCU Horned Frogs in the Elite 8. However, the future of the NCAA Tournament returning to the city remains uncertain, as officials and organizers evaluate the event’s impact and viability in the region.<\/p>\n

Why it matters<\/p>\n

Sacramento has long sought to host the NCAA Tournament, seeing it as an opportunity to showcase the city and boost local businesses. The successful women’s tournament weekend has raised hopes that March Madness could make a return, but questions remain about the city’s ability to support the event long-term.<\/p>\n

The details<\/p>\n

The 2026 NCAA women’s basketball tournament was widely praised for its organization and fan engagement during the Elite 8 weekend in Sacramento. Local businesses reported strong sales, and the city’s downtown core was bustling with tournament-related activity. However, the NCAA has not yet committed to returning the men’s or women’s tournament to Sacramento, citing factors like arena capacity, hotel availability, and transportation infrastructure that will need to be evaluated.<\/p>\n

The 2026 NCAA women’s basketball tournament Elite 8 games were held in Sacramento on March 28-30, 2026.The last time the NCAA Tournament was held in Sacramento was in 2017 for the men’s West Regional.<\/p>\n

The players<\/p>\n

South Carolina Gamecocks<\/p>\n

The women’s basketball team from the University of South Carolina, who defeated TCU in the 2026 Elite 8 game held in Sacramento.<\/p>\n

TCU Horned Frogs<\/p>\n

The women’s basketball team from Texas Christian University, who lost to South Carolina in the 2026 Elite 8 game in Sacramento.<\/p>\n

Got photos? Submit your photos here. \u203a<\/a>
\n What they\u2019re saying<\/p>\n

\u201cThe energy and enthusiasm of the Sacramento fans was incredible. We’d love to come back and play here again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Dawn Staley, Head Coach, South Carolina Gamecocks<\/p>\n

\u201cSacramento proved it can host a top-notch NCAA event. The only question is whether the city has the long-term capacity to support the tournament on a regular basis.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Mark Emmert, President, NCAA<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next<\/p>\n

The NCAA will evaluate Sacramento’s suitability to host future men’s and women’s tournament games over the next year, looking at factors like arena size, hotel availability, and transportation infrastructure.<\/p>\n

The takeaway<\/p>\n

Sacramento’s successful hosting of the 2026 NCAA women’s basketball tournament has raised hopes that March Madness could return to the city, but significant questions remain about the long-term viability of the event in the region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Got story updates? Submit your updates here. \u203a The vibrant, fractured energy of the NCAA women’s tournament in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245987,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-245986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}