NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball smashed viewership records by drawing an average of nearly 19 million viewers per game over the course of this year’s March Madness tournament. The championship game between Iowa and South Carolina saw a peak of 24 million viewers, up from 10 million during last year’s LSU-Iowa matchup. Stars from the tournament have been drafted into the WNBA, with Caitlin Clark heading to Indiana and Angel Reese off to Chicago.
On the heels of the success shown by the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament, professional and college basketball remain the most-viewed female sports by a wide margin, accounting for more than 50% of viewership as of April 2024. College sensations Angel Reese, JuJu Watkins, Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers are just a handful of several athletes commanding high praise across the nation. People who may not have had any particular interest in women’s sports are starting to realize the electricity and entertainment provided in part by players such as these.
“I watched the women’s March Madness more than the men’s, to be honest,” said Sauvi Coon, a junior at Ida B. Wells. “I watched the women’s World Cup when that was happening, too, and women’s tennis. They’re pretty fun to watch.”
Apart from the obvious interest in basketball, other young players such as American tennis phenom Coco Gauff and the Portland Thorns’ Sophia Smith are attracting popular media attention. Insiders and casual fans alike are excited for the future that the world of sports has to offer.
Other sports have also seen increased female participation. Just recently, USA Hockey has totaled over 100,000 female hockey players for the first time in program history, and the Professional Women’s Hockey League has seen considerable support in its inaugural season. On both counts, this is promising news for the exciting and electric world of hockey.
Last year, an August 30th regular-season volleyball matchup between the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Omaha Mavericks drew a staggering 92,000 fans to the Cornhuskers’ Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska. The match, resulting in a Cornhuskers’ victory, saw the single largest attendance of any women’s sports match to date. The NCAA Division I Championship that year boasted an average 1.7 million viewers with a peak of 2.1 million, a year-over-year increase of 115% and an increase of 151% in female viewership.
The vast world of women’s sports has enjoyed considerable growth in recent years, but this development has been as pronounced at Ida B. Wells as it has anywhere else.
Mike Nolan is the Athletic Director at IBW. “I think there is a movement nationally and globally to recognize, highlight, and celebrate women’s sports as a whole and hopefully shed more light on the importance of women’s sports as a whole,” Nolan wrote in an email correspondence.
“Our women’s sports at IBW are thriving,” said Nolan. “We have a growing number of women playing football. A booming women’s wrestling program. Four levels of soccer. Three levels of basketball and volleyball. Our women swimmers did outstanding at the state meet. Zorina Johnson is a champion wrestler,” continued Nolan. “We have many female student-athletes going on to participate at the next level. The future is bright and our current state is awesome.”
