LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (March. 13, 2024) – A new women’s college basketball event will be staged at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort. The 2024 Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Showcase will feature a four-team tournament, Nov. 21-23, along with two other games on Nov. 24. All six games will be played at State Farm Field House at the Disney sports complex.
WBCA Executive Director Danielle Donehew announced the new tournament at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex along with Disney’s Director of Sports Planning and Development Jorge Senior and University of South Florida women’s basketball head coach and WBCA Vice President Jose Fernandez. The announcement marks the beginning of a new relationship between ESPN Wide World of Sports and the WBCA.
“The WBCA Showcase will offer a new way for college basketball and Disney fans to come together to celebrate incredible athletes competing at The Most Magical Place On Earth,” said Jorge Senior. “We are thrilled that women’s college basketball is coming back to ESPN Wide World of Sports.”
Several of the best teams in the country are expected to compete in the event, including the University of Louisville, which has been ranked among the Associated Press Top 20 this season. Louisville will face South Florida in the Nov. 24 game, which will count toward both teams’ regular season records.
“The WBCA Board of Directors is pleased to offer the new WBCA Showcase, a women’s college basketball event that will provide exciting non-conference matchups to our member coaches, their student-athletes and fans of the game,” said WBCA Executive Director Danielle Donehew. “We are proud to work with ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort and Orlando World Center Marriott to offer participating teams a first-class competition venue and hotel experience.”
Game times, additional teams, broadcast and ticket information will be announced at a later date.
The WBCA event marks the return of women’s college hoops to Walt Disney World, which previously hosted the Honda Elite 4 Holiday Classic from 1998-2000. That Division I college women’s basketball tournament featured some of the most successful teams in college basketball history, including UConn, Notre Dame, UNC and Penn State.
About ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex
ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, located at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, is the home of Disney Soccer and Disney Spring Training and one of the premier sites for amateur sports in the nation. The complex hosts dozens of events each year and has accommodated 70 different sports featuring athletes from 70 different countries. Designed to provide professional, amateur and youth athletes with experiences synonymous with the names Disney and ESPN, the 220-acre facility features multiple competition venues, including 16 baseball/softball fields; a 9,500-seat stadium; a state-of-the-art indoor arena in addition to two field houses for basketball, volleyball, eSports and other indoor sports; and 17 multi-purpose outdoor fields for soccer, football and field hockey. The complex also contains a professional production center that produces content for the Disney family of networks for global distribution. For more information, visit www.disneysportsnews.com for news releases, photos and videos and www.espnwwos.com for the latest calendar of events.
About the WBCA
The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association is the professional association for coaches of women’s and girls’ basketball at all levels of competition. Founded in 1981, the WBCA offers educational resources that coaches need to help make themselves better leaders, teachers and mentors to their players; provides opportunities for coaches to connect with peers in the profession; serves as the unifying voice of coaches to those organizations that control the game; and celebrates those coaches, players and other individuals who excel each year and contribute to the advancement of the sport. Visit www.WBCA.org for more details about the Association.