The recent popularity spike in NCAA Women’s Basketball has been a long time coming.
For years now the viewership of female sporting events has been on the rise. A prime example of
this is the Nebraska Volleyball Memorial Stadium game. On August 30th, 2023, the game had a
record-breaking amount of live viewers. The staggering 92,003 attendance set the record for the
largest crowd at any women’s sporting event. This set the stage for other women’s sports;
showing up for women’s sporting events became more normalized.
The Women’s NCAA Division 1 National Championship tournament has experienced a
recent surge in viewership. This year, the difference was the individual players and their
popularity. Caitlyn Clark, Paige Bueckers, and Angel Reese have all become household names.
“With players like these [Caitlyn Clark and Paige Bueckers] I feel people can’t deny the
fact that their interested in women’s basketball and want to watch it all the time,” said sophomore
basketball player Carina Rodriguez.
Their undoubtable skills make them generational talents. Combined with drama over
social media, such as the ‘you can’t see me’ hand wave done by Reese directed towards Clark.
The drama between Reese and Clark, as well as the clashing talent present in both teams
foreshadowed a high viewership for their face-off. In the Elite Eight round of the NCAA
tournament, 12.3 million viewers watched. This game was deemed one of the most viewed
games in sports this year, other than NFL football. After Iowa beat LSU by a score of 94-87, Iowa went on to play the UConn Huskies in the Final Four. The Bueckers-Clark matchup was
iconic; 14.2 million people tapped in to see the matchup of the teams. When it all came to an end
in the NCAA Division 1 Championship game, the South Carolina Gamecocks defeated the Iowa
Hawkeyes by a score of 87-75, the views of that game doubled from last year’s championship
game as 18.7 million people tuned in.
Female athletes around the world have expressed their immense pride in these teams.
This year’s NCAA Division 1 tournament was a turning point for women’s sports, leading
females into the spotlight of athletics.
“I think it’s really great that this tournament had so many viewers; that just shows how
we [women] are breaking barriers. Women’s basketball is grabbing the attention of people,” said
sophomore softball player Kate Lisowski.
Women’s basketball spiking in interest is beneficial to all women’s sports, not just the
basketball community. Men’s sports have always overtaken women’s sports in viewership, after
this tournament things changed and the viewership of sports has been more equal now between
genders than it ever has been.
“It’s exceptionally hard being a female athlete in what’s mainly a male-dominated sport
like basketball. However, this year’s college women’s basketball season has set the bar for
women proving you can achieve things with hard work and dedication,” said Rodriguez.
Sophomore softball player Emma DeGeorge said, “It showcases how strong women really are.”
Women have recognized and appreciated the efforts of the college teams. The women
who play are most definitely playing for something bigger than basketball; they play for a
change in society and for the women around the world who feel unnoticed in sports.
