TAMPA, Fla. — Downtown Tampa has been transformed for the Women's NCAA Final Four tournament.
Of the thousands of fans in Tampa right now is Emilie-An Mai, who traveled with her friends from Quebec.
"It's really emotional because we both have, like, little girls. So just to see how basketball is so huge for a women now, it's really fantastic," Mai said.
We're watching a shift in the eyes of women's sports.
Tamica Smith-Jones is also happy to see it happening.
"I played college in the 90s at Alabama A&M," she said. "To see what it has grown to now, with all the marketing promotions, the ticket attendance, you know, getting butts in the seats, sell-out arenas, playing in football stadiums, you know, you name it, you know, I think it's been a long time coming."
Plus, Tampa is getting the national spotlight.
We wanted to know what goes into picking a host city and what made Tampa the right choice.
It just so happens that one of the visiting basketball fans, Smith-Jones, has a history with that question.
"I served on the Women's Basketball Committee, so the selection committee that puts all of this on for five years, right? So I got a chance to be in Tampa and host in Tampa. 2019, actually," she said.
She said Tampa's downtown is family-oriented and walkable.
"We just walked from our hotel, which is the host hotel over at the Hilton here, and headed over to Jackson's Bistro. Being able to see all of the parts of the Final Four is very good for a host city," she said.
I also took that question to Rob Higgins. He's the Executive Director of the Tampa Bay Sports Commission.
"We need to know what an event will do from an economic standpoint. We need to know how it will leave a legacy in our community and create a social impact. And then we need to know what type of stage it puts on, puts us on to the world," he said.
For a city nicknamed 'Champa Bay' for all of the championships we've won, we're also winning in the championship hosting department.
"Experience doesn't boil down to our record fourth NCAA Women's Final Four or five Super Bowls or three Frozen Fours, or any of the constant run of events that we've had. It's about the experience we can create, from Tampa International Airport to the Riverwalk to our walkable championship campus."
It's been 5 years since Tampa hosted the Super Bowl. Higgins said we could see it return.
"It's something that we're talking about and thinking about on a daily basis. We've got to make sure every aspect of our bid package is at the top of its game, from Raymond James Stadium to our hotels to all the different ancillary event venues," he added.
However, if you're looking forward to Tampa being the host city for the Olympics, don't get your hopes up. Higgins said that's a little too large scale for Tampa, and hosting would become a headache for the people living and working here.
“Like my mom said, in Inside Out 2, it's like a core memory.”
ABC Action News spoke with the 11-year-old who went viral when she met her hero Paige Bueckers ahead of the NCAA Women's Final Four in Tampa.
