The National Collegiate Athletic Association announced today that Nashville will play host to the NCAA women’s basketball Final Four tournament in 2014.

The bid of the Nashville Sports Council and the Ohio Valley Conference, submitted to the NCAA in June, sought to host to the tournament at the Sommet Center downtown sometime between 2012 and 2016. Nashville later made a shortlist of eight cities in the final running.

Today's announcement places Nashville in the company of Denver, New Orleans, Tampa/St. Petersburg and Indianapolis, which were chosen for the two years before and after 2014.

Three finalist cities were not chosen: Columbus, Ohio; Dallas and San Antonio.

A Women’s Basketball Coaches Association national convention is scheduled to take place alongside the Final Four, bringing some 5,000 coaches from all levels to town. Altogether, the hoops events are expected to bring a huge load of tourist dollars to town.

"This is great news for Nashville," Mayor Karl Dean said in a prepared statement. "I applaud the Sports Council, the Ohio Valley Conference and the bid committee for all the work they put into making this happen, specifically Vice-Mayor Diane Neighbors and Margaret Behm."

Neighbors and Nashville attorney Behm co-chaired the Music City Bid Committee.

"This news speaks to what a great destination Nashville is for large events and their participants, and it helps validate the need for a new, much larger convention center downtown," Dean said. "This event is only possible because by 2014 the Music City Center will be open and fully operational. I look forward to Nashville hosting this event and to showing the Women’s Final Four participants all that Music City has to offer."

This year’s women’s final four took place in Tampa, and last year's was held in Cleveland. St. Louis, San Antonio and Indianapolis are slated to host the tournament in the next three years.