The Women’s D1 National Championship game between Iowa and LSU shows how in-demand and valuable women’s basketball can be when it has the proper infrastructure. The game was televised on ABC and garnered an average of 9.9 million viewers peaking at 12.6 million. It was the most-viewed NCAA women’s college basketball game on record across all networks.
It was the most-viewed college event ever on ESPN+ amongst all sports, men’s or women’s. The viewership was up 103% and shows that women’s basketball has been undervalued and under-resourced for years. This is only the second year the NCAA has allowed the women’s tournament to use the lucrative March Madness marks and logos.
In 2021, the NCAA retained the law firm of Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP (βKHFβ) to conduct a comprehensive and thorough external review of gender equity issues in connection with the NCAA, focusing on NCAA championships. This was due to the apparent discrepancies shown when Sedona Prince shared her now famous TikTok video highlighting the inequity in resources.
The Kaplan report outlined how deeply the NCAA has undervalued and at times, kneecapped women’s sports. The report described the undervaluing of women’s teams as “perpetuating a mistaken narrative that women’s basketball is destined to be a ‘money loser’ year after year. Nothing could be further from the truth.”
The womenβs final four were the most-viewed NCAA D1 womenβs college basketball semifinals in ESPN history with an average of 4.5M viewers. Combine the viewership numbers from the Final Four and the National Championship and it shows just how valuable women’s basketball can be with more investment, more media telling the stories of this side of the game, and more air time. The potential of women’s basketball is limitless.
π.π πππππππ πππππππ π€― Record-breaking #NationalChampionship thriller between @LSUwbkb & @IowaWBB makes TV history:
π Most-viewed #NCAAWBB game on record
π Up 103% YOY
π Peaked at 12.6M
π Most-viewed college event ever on @ESPNPlus pic.twitter.com/UZLVNuP3Sf— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) April 3, 2023
Amanda Christovich of Front Office Sports, spoke with SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey after the National Championship game and he echoed that women’s basketball has been validated. It is no longer a vague concept that women’s basketball is valuable, it is now a fact with data points that tell the story of growth despite the roadblocks put in its way.
I chatted w @GregSankey postgame + asked whether women's March Madness media rights should be sold as their own product, like the 2021 NCAA equity report suggested.
"One media consultant's opinion is not validation. I think what happened this weekend is actually validation."
— Amanda Christovich (@achristovichh) April 3, 2023
As I was saying an in interview immediately after Sunday's National Championship Game: "One media consultantβs opinion is not validation,β Sankey said, referring to the NCAA equity review. βI think what happened this weekend is actually validation.β https://t.co/T0zwt9HLCM
— Greg Sankey (@GregSankey) April 3, 2023
The National Championship even rivaled the viewership numbers of college football bowl games.
Sunday's LSU-Iowa Women's National Title Game gets a record 9.9 million viewers, which is more than the Sugar and Orange Bowl got.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) April 3, 2023
It turns out investing in women’s sports does have a great ROI and the potential is limitless.