The NCAA has announced that beginning in 2009 it will return to having 16 pre-determined sub-regional sites. The current 8 site format was killing attendance.

http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll...349/1003/SPORTS

Iowa State is thrilled because we can host on campus again. Iowa ain't crazy about it because basically they'll never play at home during the NCAA's (and I'm not crying over that...boohoo Lisa, boohoo).

This is great news for the game. Yeah!

Absolutely - the 8 city pod system didn't work for the women's game and attendance at these sites generally proved it. This is set for at least '09 and '10. They will probably try to come up with something new by then to try, but I still doubt the women's game will have made that big of a leap to be able to draw more than flies in certain markets.

Ames was not able to host under the 8 city system because we didn't have enough hotel space for that many people/teams to come into town at one time. But we were always one of the most successful host sites the five consecutive years ISU got to host NCAA 1st and 2nd round games from '98-'02 (when the 16 sites were determined by the top 16 seeds of the tournament). The first year the NCAA put the sites up for bidding, ISU won the right to host in '03, but that ended up being our only losing season under Coach Fennelly, so no one showed up to watch Purdue and Villanova play (imagine that). Otherwise, our attendance was anywhere between 9,000 to 14,000 over those five years.