South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley celebrates in confetti after the Gamecocks won the national championship on Sunday, April 7, 2024, in Cleveland, Ohio.

Dawn Staley has seen women’s basketball at its apex in Charlotte.

For seven of the eight seasons that the Charlotte Sting — one of the original teams in the Women’s National Basketball Association — existed, Staley was playing point guard in a teal-and-purple jersey, making four all-star teams, leading the Sting to the Finals in 2001, and putting together a pro career that helped earned her enshrinement in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

It’s now been 18 years since the Sting ceased operations and folded. And this April will mark 29 years since North Carolina’s Queen City has hosted a Final Four for women’s college basketball.

Nearly two decades since the Sting traded Staley to the Houston Comets, women’s college basketball is as popular as it has ever been. And the team that Staley now coaches — the South Carolina Gamecocks — has been there for some of its biggest and signature moments. Last April, South Carolina won its third national championship under the direction of Staley, beating Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes in Cleveland, Ohio, in a game that drew a national audience of 18.9 million viewers. For the first time ever, more people watched the women’s basketball title game than watched the men’s. The clash between the Gamecocks and Hawkeyes drew more eyeballs than every NBA Finals game since 2017, every Daytona 500 since 2006, and every game of MLB’s World Series since 2019.

“Whatever I could have imagined, I don’t think it would have turned out as beautiful as what we’re experiencing right now,” Staley said Sunday regarding the growth in her sport.

Business is booming in women’s basketball. Charlotte is among the cities trying to capitalize on it.

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley shakes the hands of N.C. State coaches at the Final Four in Cleveland, Ohio, on Friday, April 5, 2024.

Sunday marked the second annual Ally Tipoff, an event put on between the Charlotte Sports Foundation and Ally Financial, held in the Spectrum Center — home of the Charlotte Hornets. Last year’s game between Virginia Tech and Iowa drew more than 15,000 fans. According to the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority, the 2023 Ally Tipoff generated a $2.5 million economic impact on the city.

This year’s event grew to two games, headlined by a Final Four rematch between South Carolina and N.C. State, followed by a Round Two bout between the Hawkeyes and Hokies. The games aired on ESPN and ESPN2 respectively, and the announced attendance for the doubleheader was 15,424, resetting the record for the highest-attended regular season women’s basketball game in the state of North Carolina.

“I spent many summers here and I really enjoy this city. They’ve embraced me and I’ve embraced them. To see my career come full circle,” Staley said. “Never would I imagine I would be here in this capacity again, coaching. … It’s a great venue.”

South Carolina, ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll, beat N.C. State 71-57 on Sunday in front of that historic crowd. And more important than the stats in the box score were Staley’s impressions of what Charlotte is and could be for women’s basketball.

“We appreciate (Charlotte) treating us like a sport and we appreciate you running a first-class game for us. They created an environment that we can all be proud of,” Staley said. “Women’s basketball won today.”

After seeing a non-conference clash in November draw fans in droves for the second consecutive year, it begs the question: Is Charlotte suitable for, and capable of, hosting the sport’s signature event again? Can and should the Final Four come back to Charlotte?

For Staley, it’s a no-brainer.

“Yeah, if Ally can host,” Staley said with a laugh, before taking on a more serious tone. “It would be incredible. I think this is a sample of what this city can do. I’ve been part of a WNBA franchise here. People came to watch us play. I still have relationships with the ball girls and ball boys. … It’s incredible to see. I think this is a prime spot for a WNBA team, for a Final Four – anything that women are doing, you see the city, they just embrace the game.”

Custom shirts from the Indiana-based Homefield Apparel lay on a table at the 2024 Ally Tipoff at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C.

Staley isn’t alone in her optimistic measurement of Charlotte’s potential.

Back in October at the Atlantic Coast Conference Tipoff — a three-day long media event for college basketball — ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips was posed a question about interest in Charlotte hosting a women’s Final Four.

“It’s high,” Phillips said assuredly.

Phillips added that the ACC didn’t really explore hosting big events in Charlotte until it was fully settled in its new headquarters in the Queen City, relocating there from its former longtime home in Greensboro in 2023. But now, Phillips and the conference are working with the city of Charlotte and the Spectrum Center, exploring ways to bring events like the women’s Final Four to the ACC’s backyard.

“I think you’re going to see that. I’m not privy to give you all of what’s happening, but it only makes sense,” Phillips said. “To that point, I think a good barometer for us this year is having the men’s (ACC) basketball tournament in Charlotte for the first time since 2019. We’ll have a chance to kind of get our feet wet back into this community, see what works, see what doesn’t.

“I think you’ll see that evolving specifically to the women’s basketball question.”

In 2027, the ACC women’s basketball tournament is coming to Charlotte too.

As for the women’s Final Four, the earliest Charlotte could host the event would be 2032. Currently, the event is booked for cities through 2031. It will be held in Tampa, Florida; Phoenix, Arizona; Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana; San Antonio, Texas; Portland, Oregon; and Dallas, Texas, over the next seven years.

When and if the Final Four does come back, if the past two Ally Tipoffs are any indicator, Charlotte can expect capacity crowds for the premier event in women’s basketball.

And the NCAA might want to hire the folks from the Ally Tipoff to run it too.

“Hats off to the organizers of (Ally Tipoff). It’s top-notch. It feels like an NCAA Tournament, and they treat it like an NCAA Tournament,” Iowa coach Jan Jensen said. “It’s a really special event.”

Even despite the loss, N.C. State coach Wes Moore called Sunday’s environment an “unbelievable experience” and “very similar to the Final Four.”