With the NCAA Tournament tipping off March 20, more people than ever before have their eyes on women’s college basketball.
Last year, according to ESPN, a record-breaking 9.9 million viewers tuned in for the women’s national championship between Iowa and LSU. For the first time ever, tickets for the Women’s Final Four tournament were three times as expensive as the men’s tickets.
The championship game became the most-viewed women’s college basketball game ever and the most-viewed college basketball game on ESPN for men or women.
Junior women’s basketball player Jenna Batsch has found the increase in viewers to be exciting.
“I think it’s great,” she said. “I’ve loved seeing that grow, and I hear about it around campus. Sometimes, I’m in class, and people are talking about the big South Carolina game or LSU game or something like that. And it’s great to hear and see.”
With athletes such as Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Hailey Van Lith, viewership is expected to continue to be high this year.
This season, for the first time in women’s college basketball, a game was played outside in a football stadium when the University of Iowa took on DePaul University Oct. 15, setting a women’s record of 55,646 fans in attendance.
Women’s basketball coach Todd Starkey believes that the quality of basketball and athletes not entering the transfer portal are to thank for the increase in attention the sport is getting.
The transfer portal was first welcomed to NCAA basketball in 2018, but became widely used in 2021 after a rule change allowing athletes to transfer one time without sitting out for one season. Because of this, especially in men’s sports, athletes can transfer to another school at any time throughout their college years.
“One of the big reasons for why I think women’s basketball is more intriguing than men’s basketball right now, and in the nation, is because the women’s players are staying for four years,” he said. “A lot of the biggest [men’s] programs in the country, their best players are leaving for the NBA early, and so the fan base never really gets attached to those people. Whereas in women’s basketball, you’ve got the best players in college basketball staying for four and five years. So people get to know their names.”
As a coach, Starkey feels the increase in attention is validating for female athletes.
“There’s more eyes on it, and I think that’s great for women’s basketball players to feel validated,” he said. “I think now it’s like there’s men’s basketball and there’s women’s basketball, and people are talking about both, and I think that just with more eyes on it, more attention given, I think that makes all women’s basketball players feel like they have a bigger space to operate.”
For women’s basketball player and redshirt senior Katie Shumate, the current recognition of women’s basketball is changing the narrative she grew up with.
“When I went back home, there were these kids I was doing a camp with, and they were talking about Caitlin Clark, Jacy Sheldon and Maddy Westbeld and all these names, and the boys knew what they were talking about,” she said. “I just feel like when I was younger, we were all talking about the boys in college basketball. More people are looking up to women athletes and respecting them and wanting to be like them.”
With the increase in attention for women’s basketball, the Flashes hope to continue to see an increase in their own game attendance as well, Batsch said.
“I think people underestimate women’s athletics sometimes,” she said, “and I think, obviously, men are faster and more athletic, but I think we can do a lot of things that they can do, and people don’t understand that and a lot of them don’t really even give women’s basketball or women’s athletics, in general, a chance. But when they do come, I’ve heard a lot of people say that we’re really fun to watch.”
Shumate said playing in front of a large crowd can make a big difference.
“I think it’s a lot easier to keep our energy and feed off of the crowds,” she said.
The Mid-American Conference is set to host the Women’s Final Four tournament alongside the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission for the first time since 2007.
“It’s an honor to host the NCAA Women’s Final Four in Cleveland — our second time bringing this great sporting event to our city,” David Gilbert, president and CEO at Greater Cleveland Sports Commission, said in a story from the NCAA. “It’s been exciting to see the growing interest in women’s sports — and especially women’s basketball.”
The women’s national championship game is set to be played April 7 at 3 p.m. and airing on ABC.
Women’s basketball has been played at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse for 23 years as the neutral site for the MAC Women’s Basketball Tournament.
“I think it’s significant for the MAC to be hosting,” Starkey said. “It’s, once again, just bringing more eyes and attention to Northeast Ohio, to Cleveland and to our conference.”
Kelsie Horner is assistant managing editor. Contact her at [email protected].
