Women's Final Four Tickets Are Already the Second Most Expensive Ever — And No One Knows the Matchups Yet

The 2026 Women's Final Four is still 10 days away. The Sweet 16 doesn't tip off until Thursday. And yet ticket prices on Gametime are already tracking at levels that would make last year look like a bargain.

The average asking price for a Women's Final Four semifinal seat has reached $871 — with 10 days still on the clock before the games tip off in Phoenix. By comparison, last year's semifinals didn't hit $648 until game day. The 2026 championship game is sitting at $744 today, already 12 percent above what the 2025 title game averaged when the final buzzer was on the horizon.

Only one Women's Final Four in the Gametime dataset has ever posted higher numbers: the 2023 championship, when Caitlin Clark and Iowa faced LSU and ticket prices exploded to a $1,107 average on game day. That number is still the all-time outlier — a bracket-specific supernova. What's happening in 2026 is something different: sustained, pre-bracket demand at a scale the event has never seen before.

A Market That's Changed Permanently

The numbers tell a four-year story of rapid escalation. In 2022, the average Women's Final Four semifinal ticket sold for $205. By 2023, that had nearly doubled to $368, driven by the Clark effect. After a modest pullback, 2025 hit $648 on game day — a figure that now looks modest compared to where 2026 already sits heading into the second weekend.

That's a 309 percent increase in average semifinal prices since 2022. No other major college sports event has seen that kind of price appreciation over the same window.

The floor has moved, too. The cheapest available ticket for this year's semifinals is currently $340. The minimum for the championship game is $288. For context, the 2022 semifinals had a get-in price of $137 two days before tip-off.

The Bracket Could Push Prices Higher — or Hold Them

The 2026 field is loaded with marquee programs. UConn — the defending champion led by Azzi Fudd and Sarah Strong — has cruised through the first two rounds and enters the Sweet 16 as the heavy favorite. South Carolina, UCLA, Texas, and LSU are all still alive and have the fan bases to move ticket markets.

The 2023 championship spike — from a $127 get-in price a week out to a $1,107 average on game day — was driven almost entirely by bracket circumstance: Clark reached the final, prices went vertical. The same dynamic could play out again if a marquee matchup materializes in Phoenix.

What's different this year is that elevated prices are showing up before anyone knows who's playing. That's a signal of structural demand growth, not just star power.

Phoenix Hosting for the First Time

The 2026 event marks Phoenix's first time hosting the Women's Final Four, with games at the Mortgage Matchup Center on April 3 (semifinals) and April 5 (championship). That venue context matters for buyers: the market will continue to react as the bracket narrows over the next week.

If you're planning to attend, prices at this stage of tournament history have tended to rise — not fall — as the Final Four field is announced.

Ticket prices based on Gametime data as of March 24, 2026. Historical averages reflect final game-day snapshots for past years.