Conference Tournament Winners Clinch 31 Automatic Bids to 2026 NCAA Women's Tournament

The 2026 NCAA Division I women’s basketball tournament field will include 68 teams, with 31 of those places awarded as automatic bids to conference tournament champions.

The NCAA’s compiled information offers a full listing of the 31 conferences with tournament dates, locations, and bracket links.

ESPN

ESPN frames those conference tournaments as the heart of "Champ Week," noting that 31 conference tournaments will award automatic bids and that at least one automatic spot will be on the line each day from March 7–15 as the calendar builds toward Selection Sunday.

Fox News reports that March conference tournaments are underway and that conference champions earn automatic berths to the 2026 NCAA Tournament, with the First Four beginning Tuesday, March 17.

ESPN says the conference tournaments "build toward Selection Sunday on March 15, when the last four automatic berths will be decided."

The NCAA's table-based resource lists every conference's tournament schedule with bracket links so fans can follow who secures an automatic berth.

Fox News

Fox News highlights live tracking and updates of automatic qualifiers through Selection Sunday and specifies the national TV plans for revealing the bracket, signalling how media coverage coordinates around the automatic-bid timeline.

By early March, several conferences had already produced champions and automatic qualifiers.

“Of the 68 teams that will make the field for the NCAA DI women's basketball tournament, 31 will qualify through automatic bids after winning their respective conference tournaments if they are eligible for the tournament”

NCAA

Fox News lists five automatic bids already clinched: ASUN — Queens; Big South — High Point; Missouri Valley — Northern Iowa; NEC — Long Island (LIU); and OVC — Tennessee State.

Fox News also includes completed conference title-game scores, such as Tennessee State defeating Morehead State, 93–67, and High Point defeating Winthrop, 91–76.

ESPN's Champ Week preview underscores that reporting on each conference's results is part of a day-by-day tracking of teams clinching NCAA berths, while the NCAA resource serves as the central reference for the tournament field and conference outcomes.

Television and schedule logistics are part of the picture.

Fox News specifies that the bracket will be revealed on CBS at 6 p.m. ET on Selection Sunday (March 15) and reminds readers the First Four begins March 17.

ESPN

The NCAA listing and ESPN’s preview both point readers to where to find schedules and bracket information across the 31 conferences.

Together, the sources show how tournament timing, TV windows, and centralized scheduling information converge as the automatic-bid winners are confirmed.

The automatic-bid process is the defining narrative of Champ Week.

“Conference tournaments are underway and March Madness has officially arrived”

Fox News

The NCAA’s compiled conference table frames the structural facts, including the 68-team field, 31 automatic bids, and conference schedules.

Fox News

ESPN provides a day-by-day narrative of tournaments building to Selection Sunday.

Fox News supplies near-real-time tracking of qualifiers and completed title games.

Together, these sources map how conference champions clinch the 31 automatic berths to the 2026 NCAA women's tournament.