Women’s college basketball used to be a strange sport in college athletics. People considered it a boring, unimportant and inconsequential sport. This is no longer the case, as the women’s side of college hoops has finally caught up to the men’s side in viewership and interest.
Caitlin Clark. Paige Buckers. JuJu Watkins. Angel Reese. Hailey Van Lith. Even some of the most casual basketball fans recognize these names because of the buzz they create for women’s basketball.
“When I first started (playing in college), when I was a freshman, we couldn’t even use the March Madness brand, and now to see this…I expected to continue to grow this year, and I think it’s the coolest thing,” Iowa player. Clark said.
This year’s NCAA Women’s March Madness broke record after record in viewership, even toppling last year’s tournament record.
Ratings for the Women’s March Madness championship have skyrocketed over the past three years, from an estimated 5.5 and 6.1 million viewers in 2021 and 2022 to a staggering 12.6 million during the LSU dogfight against Iowa last year. These numbers have become comparable to those of the men’s championship and even the NBA Finals.
This all came to a head in the Iowa vs. LSU rematch on April 1. When viewership analytics were released, they showed that the Elite Eight game between the Hawkeyes and Tigers was not only the most-watched women’s basketball game of all time, but it also outperformed all last season’s MLB, NHL and MLS games; Additionally, only one NBA game and one college football game attracted higher viewership.
What caused this sudden increase?
The answer is simple: the storylines, star power, parity and entertainment value are roughly on par with the men’s game; in some cases, women’s football even surpasses men’s football.
This isn’t a knock on men’s college basketball, but there are no pressing stories that attract fans, or at least none that compare to women’s soccer right now. Some people may rush to point to UConn and its back-to-back championship potential, or Purdue’s quest to finally make the Final Four under head coach Matt Painter after years of disappointment. These are important storylines, but they pale in comparison to the drama we saw in LSU vs. South Carolina in the SEC Tournament championship game, the aforementioned LSU vs. Iowa, the UConn women’s quest to returning to the top and the emergence of Watkins and USC as perennials. suitors.
“The storylines surrounding women’s basketball are ongoing and compelling,” said sports anchor Ana Schatz. Forbes writer Susan Shaw. “There are a dozen teams making serious moves to win it all, which keeps media coverage and scoreboard monitoring at an all-time high. The parity and depth of the top teams is truly something to behold.
Another element that has allowed the game to thrive is the support of men in college basketball as well as the NBA.
“Sports stakeholders can point to other factors that led to a spike in popularity, including a group of more fluid teams making deep runs in the NCAA tournaments and a legion of NBA players using their platforms of social media to promote women’s basketball and make it more social acceptable for men to watch,” Dan Wolken of USA Today. reported.
What has become very apparent is that women’s college basketball is rich in superstars, while men’s college basketball is, for lack of better words, lagging behind.
One of the main reasons for this is that women’s basketball players, as a rule, cannot enter the draft and must remain at the college level until they accomplish one of three things: obtain their diploma, play four years or reach the age of 22. the product of women’s college basketball in a positive way for several reasons.
Players have plenty of time to develop, fans can spend time with players for more than a year, and programs are able to build their rosters more sustainably. All these factors result in a favorable, entertaining and competitive product which in recent times has attracted a massive number of viewers.
Men, on the other hand, are allowed to enter the NBA draft after just one year of college and, like it or not, this has had a negative impact on the entertainment value of men’s college basketball. For starters, it’s causing a wave of hyper-talented players choosing to pursue a path other than college, a fact that is personified in many consensuses. NBA Mock Drafts which show that five of the top 15 players selected come from overseas or from NBA G-League team Ignite.
Additionally, male players like Reed Sheppard, Rob Dillingham, Jared McCain and Cody Williams are expected to enter the NBA draft after just one year in college. Men’s football must constantly replenish its superstars.
Conversely, Clark, Bueckers, Reese and Van Lith have been at the university for four years, so they have all had the chance to make a lasting impact on their respective programs and fans during their tenure.
South Carolina’s Dawn Staley has long been a supporter and advocate for women’s basketball. Now that women’s basketball is getting the national attention it deserves, can anything hold the sport back?
“It’s a double-edged sword when it comes to that response,” Staley said. “I’ve said it before, it was intentional to slow down women’s basketball. It’s no longer intentional because they see we’re bursting at the seams.”
Women’s college basketball was never meant to compete directly with men’s college basketball, but it seems like the two teams are in a pretty even battle in terms of entertainment value.
College basketball is at its peak when both teams are firing on all cylinders, and this year is a perfect example of that. Both Elite Eights provided some of the most entertaining basketball of the last decade, and this weekend’s upcoming Final Fours look like they could be even better.
Andreya Carter is a former college basketball star and now works as a sports analyst and broadcaster for ESPN.
“There’s definitely buy-in, and now that the conversations we’re having on ‘First Take’ and ‘Get Up,’ they’re getting attention once they’re posted on social media, people are participating in the conversation and give their opinions, Carter said. “So for the coordinating producers of these shows to see women’s college basketball as a hot topic and people wanting to talk about it and wanting to jump into the conversation after the show ends, that’s a good sign .”
