Missouri Valley Conference Announces Future Women’s Basketball Tournament Hosts

The Missouri Valley Conference Women’s Basketball Championship will be held at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana, 2025 before rotating to Xtream Arena in Coralville, Iowa, 2026 and Vibrant Arena at The MARK in Moline, Illinois, in 2027.

In 2024, the Missouri Valley Conference was one of only six conferences in which the women’s basketball championship was played at a neutral site, separate from the men’s championship and on a different weekend. The 2025 tournament at Ford Center in Evansville will be the 18th consecutive year the Conference will conduct a neutral-site championship for women’s basketball.

“We are thrilled to continue to provide our women’s basketball student-athletes with the opportunity to be showcased in a neutral-site, stand-alone tournament,” says Valparaiso President José D. Padilla, chair of the board of directors of the Missouri Valley Conference. “The next three years will give us the opportunity to grow the Missouri Valley Conference’s national brand through visibility in new communities while affording our student-athletes the chance to experience new conference tournament venues.”

Ford Center, home of the University of Evansville men’s basketball team and the Evansville Thunderbolts of the Southern Professional Hockey League, will host from March 13–16, 2025. Xtream Arena, home to the University of Iowa volleyball team and the Iowa Heartlanders of the ECHL, will host March 12–15, 2026. Vibrant Area, which served as the host site for the MVC Women’s Basketball Tournament from 2016–2024, will see action return March 11–14, 2027.

All 12 women’s basketball teams will compete in the four-day tournament with four opening-round games on Thursday, quarterfinals on Friday, semifinal on Saturday and the championship game on Sunday.

“We’re excited about developing new relationships and growing the sport of women’s basketball in the region,” said MVC Commissioner Jeff Jackson. “The championship rotation model includes three great venues and three great communities who share the conference’s goal of prioritizing women’s basketball.”