On Monday night, 12.3 million people tuned in to watch Iowa and Caitlin Clark — the projected first pick in this year’s WNBA draft — defeat Angel Reese, Flau’jae Johnson and LSU in an NCAA Tournament regional final. A rematch of last season’s championship game, it was the most-watched game in women’s basketball history.
If we look back through that history, the popularity of women’s basketball is undeniable. The problem never has been interest but access.
In the 1981-82 season, attendance for Division I women’s games totaled 1,926,989, according to a report from the NCAA. The championship game between Cheyney State, coached by future Hall of Famer C. Vivian Stringer, and a Louisiana Tech squad that featured current LSU coach Kim Mulkey saw more than 9,500 tickets sold, but only 7,000 fans attended.
On television, though, 8.79 million viewers watched the Lady Techsters come back in the second half to win 76-62 behind a 20-point performance by Most Outstanding Player Janice Lawrence and 12-of-14 free-throw shooting by Wade Trophy winner Pam Kelly. The game remains one of the top five most-watched women’s NCAA Tournament games.
All of the most-watched games included either Hall of Fame players such as Cheryl Miller, Sheryl Swoopes and current South Carolina coach Dawn Staley or future WNBA stars such as Clark and Reese. The matchups also featured some marquee coaches in Geno Auriemma, Pat Summitt, Tara VanDerveer and Stringer.
But the most important common denominator was their availability on national TV. (ESPN took over as the broadcast partner for women’s college basketball in 1995.)
In the 42 years since that inaugural championship game in 1982, D-I women’s basketball has seen its total attendance balloon to more than 11 million per season. But for much of that time, many women’s games weren’t televised, and those that were were available mostly on cable channels that viewers had to hunt for.
That, along with the NCAA not allowing the women’s tournament to use the “March Madness” branding until the 2021-22 season, hindered the sport’s growth. The men’s tournament could be found on multiple channels and received tons of marketing support while the women’s tournament was left to languish.
The lack of resources and investment in women’s sports has always been a primary issue. But the fans have been there.
Women’s basketball has always had the talent, storylines and coaches you love or love to hate. Much of the swagger and flair in today’s game is adopted from players of the past whose games weren’t as visible.
What we are seeing today — the social media discourse, women’s hoops being the lead story on national sports programs, sold-out arenas and players declaring for the WNBA draft in Vogue — is the result of increased visibility. We can see the star power of these young women.
The surge in success of the women’s NCAA Tournament creates an opportunity for the WNBA to capture new viewers and continue its visible growth.
In 2023, the league saw its largest audience in two decades. Throughout the season, the WNBA reported year-over-year growth in both attendance and television audiences and reportedly is working on expanding its media rights deals.
According to Front Office Sports, the WNBA earns about $60 million annually from its TV and streaming deals with ABC/ESPN, Amazon Prime Video, CBS and Ion. The current agreement, which is bundled with the NBA, expires in 2025, and a new one could see the WNBA’s rights value increase with the influx of new talent and new fans.
While the WNBA remains slow to expand, a new Bay Area team announced in October recently made headlines when the not-yet-existent team’s season ticket sales surpassed 5,000.
The back-to-back WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces, who led the league in attendance last season, sold 8,600 season ticket memberships for 2024 at Michelob Ultra Arena, which seats about 10,000. After Clark declared for the draft, the Indiana Fever, who own the first pick in this year’s draft, saw an increase in ticket sales. It’s all more proof there is a hunger for the women’s game.
The future of the WNBA appears bright. With so much momentum in its favor, the league and its team owners need to turn a moment into a movement. They must leverage the incoming star power, welcome more expansion teams, invest in current teams’ playing and practice facilities and make the games more accessible.
What’s past is prologue. A generational tipping point is here.
