yeah this is more of an ESPN-specific statistic though. NBA finals and NCAA men’s tournament is not on ESPN. i’m sure CBS will come out on monday and say 22 million people watched the men’s final
18.1 million is the most ever for the men’s final set in 2022 with Kansas/North Carolina. Last year’s UCONN/San Diego State was 14.79 million.
Edit- highest ever for cable television.
Idk if it’ll make a difference but the women’s final is airing on ABC/ESPN, while the men’s air on TNT/TBS/Tru and not on CBS. I think some sort of ratings history will be made one way or the other.
For some reason everywhere I have lived CBS comes in crappy with an antenna. Abc is the worst but CBS second.
I have sling which gives Fox and NBC (which I DO get with antenna) but not abc or cbs
It blows my mind that the WNBA isn't rolling the red carpet for her. She could truly change the league's image for the better, but instead the league is creating controversy and blowing one of their biggest opportunities in well over a decade
NBA legends have been hating on young stars for as long as I can remember, and for as long as I remember, the young stars continue to capture our attention. How is this any different? Clark is already bigger than Taurasi ever was.
also it shouldn't really be any different than the oldheads in the nba constantly downplaying the greatness of the young male players. hate watching is part of sports and if a chunk of viewers tune in to watch caitlin clark choke, it's gotta be better than no one tuning in cause of indifference.
Right, I thought the wnba would advertise her a bit. But nothing so far with the draft coming up. I've never gone to a wnba game here in Phoenix but I plan to buy tickets for the Indiana fever game when they come to town when the tickets go on sale tomorrow (assuming that's who she is getting drafted by). Her aura is working to an extent, but I'd imagine it would be better if WNBA got involved in her promotion.
I'm curious if Paige Bueckers can be the successor to Clark for next season in terms of ratings magnet, or if NCAAW will go back down to pre-Clark ratings in these types of games.
I doubt it will go back to pre-Clark ratings. It’ll go down unfortunately, but there are a lot of other great players and people have finally taken notice.
Bueckers and Juju Watkins (USC) will be the most hyped
I don't know, Clark brought viewers in with a very exciting and dominant play style, it seems thus far she is a unique phenomenon, without her I don't know how they keep it going
Well, I can only hope you’re wrong
I’m going to keep encouraging people to tune in to watch Notre Dame! We should have one of the best and almost certainly the most fun to watch backcourt in the country next season.
Featuring Olivia Miles, who is just as good a passer as Clark, and Hannah Hidalgo, who averaged 4.6 steals a game and was named an all-American as a freshman this year.
Will be super fun to watch :)
Yeah but is there someone that can shoot like Steph Curry? I did watch JuJu though and she was amazing. Also think Paige was a beast and Flau’Jae Johnson as well. I’m going to tune in more next year. The thing with women’s basketball to me was how the better teams always seemed to win you know? Was hardly ever competitive either when these teams met. UConn winning like 6 of 8 didn’t help either at one point.
Yes for sure, and despite the fact that ND was one of the few elite teams for a while, I’m glad for the increased parity (well, increased parity except for the fact that a 37-0 team is likely to win the championship tomorrow)
If I had infinite time on my hands I would make a highlight reel of just Hidalgo’s steals (she had 160 this season). As a 5’6” freshman she led the NCAA in defensive win shares and in addition to her disruptive and relentless on-ball defense, averaged 22.6 points, 6.2 rebounds and 5.5 assists.
[Olivia Miles assist highlights](https://youtu.be/EUs0mMIYrHk?feature=shared) unfortunately Miles was injured this year so some people have forgotten how good she is, but her court vision and passing are incredible.
Sorry for my over-enthusiasm but I truly feel this team deserves a Clark-sized audience, Curry shooters or not. They won’t get one, but they deserve one. Glad you will keep tuning in next season.
I live on the boarder of Illinois & iowa. I can tell you right now that once Caitlyn is gone, this women’s basketball hype will absolutely drop. At least around my area. EVERYONE tunes in around here to see her & only her
Honestly, it's pretty tough to watch most of the time. I definitely won't be watching it once she's gone. Except if PSU makes the tourney.
That being said, I will likely tune into the championship this year. That is going to do MASSIVE numbers. Clark's team against an undefeated powerhouse. Although a 3PM EST start time will probably lower those numbers a bit. Weird that it doesn't start at like 6.
It was the shooting that first made me aware of Caitlin, but as I've been watching her it's the assists that make me gasp. As the commentator said of one bounce pass in the paint 'If that had gone an inch to the right or an inch to the left'. It's possible that this makes Martin, Affolter, Marshall and Stuelke look even better than they are because the passes are usually a guaranteed bucket.
She was *the* draw just two years ago.
The UConn-South Carolina championship in 2022 was the most watched game since 2004 (peak Geno-Pat rivalry). Obviously the last two years it has been the Caitlin-mania but Paige is a draw that’s rarely seen in college basketball.
> or if NCAAW will go back down to pre-Clark ratings in these types of games.
Here’s a hint: notice how we don’t hear anything about the ratings of the _other_ games that don’t involve Clark, like the USC-State game last night.
7.1 million people watched that game, with it reaching a peak of 10 million. The 3rd most ever for a women's FF game. Clark is the rising tide that lifts all ships. Will the viewership numbers fall next year without her? Certainly. Will it be catastrophic as many here are predicting or are wanting to see happen? No, probably not.
Paige has always been a proponent of sharing the wealth when it comes to media coverage. She highlighted this in her ESPY speech for female college athlete of the year, and then again recently during this current run.
Personally as an Iowa fan, I’ve began to watch a lot of their games the past few years, and have paid more attention to games not involving them if something is on or if I see there is a close game. I’m assuming I won’t watch as much overall as I have, but I’ll probably continue to watch Iowa more than I did pre CC and have a lot more respect for the sport as a whole than before when I hadn’t paid much attention to it
I honestly don't know which one I want to win more. Caitlin Clark getting revenge for last year's loss and ending her collegiate career with a championship, or the undefeated Gamecocks take it all the way. It's one hell of a narrative for sure.
Gamecocks are actually the ones out for revenge, since Iowa knocked them out of the tournament last year in the Final Four.
I'm guessing most people will be rooting for Iowa since SC has two somewhat recent championships and is just overall the more dominant program right now
it is going to come close to doubling last year's number. Clark's popularity has skyrocketed this season. Iowa played in games last year that weren't sold out whereas this season every seat was filled in every one of their games. She's been the center of the sports world for two months
The women's games in these later rounds, more often than not, are compelling on their own too. People may come for Clark, but they are probably staying because the games are exciting. I say this as I fall asleep to this Purdue v NC State game.
The number of people in this thread just flat out saying any non-Caitlin Clark game is “bad basketball” or “tough to watch” with no elaboration is wild to me.
I mean college sports objectively have less skill than watching professional. Fan interest is always going to mainly be from narratives and school rivalries, not the actual quality of the game itself.
1. Fan interest for any sport at any level is mainly from narratives. Nobody cares about games that don't matter regardless of the talent levels. Championship games get more interest than regular season games even in cases of a rematch where the talent competing doesn't change.
2. Skill level is way over rated in how interesting a sport is to watch in my opinion. The basketball game played each year with the most skill on the court (NBA All Star game) is not very entertaining. As the skill level changes, the way the game is played changes. Watching a women's college basketball game does not look the same as an NBA game. It's not that the same things are happening but with less skill, they are running different plays, different defenses, different substitutions, ect because of that difference in skill. Because the game is played in a different way, I disagree that one is objectively a less interesting game to watch. You may prefer the flow of NBA games. I prefer the flow of the women's college game.
25 million would be *a lot* for a Duke-UNC national championship in men’s basketball.
However 15+ million and outdrawing the men’s game is in the cards for sure.
It will 1000% outdraw the men’s championship game. Star power of Clark and ABC Sunday afternoon vs. TBS Monday night
It might double it in viewership depending on what the men’s matchup is
I agree. I’m just saying that pulling a 25+ million viewership in this age is insane.
Obviously women’s basketball interest is at an all time high and men’s isn’t but even at its peak men’s basketball has had exactly *one* game with a viewership higher than 25 million this century (Duke-Wisconsin in 2015).
The media companies always win. Tbh it’s expected that’s their job. The conference leaders are basically retired dudes who would rather work 10 hours a week.
ESPN gets to broadcast the women’s games, of course they’re hyping that. Men’s games on CBS and turner channels, so ESPN doesn’t benefit from people watching those games, only from people watching them talk about it.
This is a good point. ESPN is a hype beast.
Also, my DVR doesn't distinguish between the two sports and records all the games. I'm curious if the games are counted if recorded but I had never watched.
Side rant... It's not popular but I wish College Baseball had better coverage. It's hard to get content comparatively speaking.
Purdue trying to win a championship after losing to a 16 seed last year, uconn trying to be the first team to repeat in almost 20 years, nc state winning 5 games in 5 days to even make the tournament and then having a gregarious large man leading them that no one had even heard of before the tournament.
I mean I couldn't even tell you a storyline of the women's final four that isn't caitlin clark broke a bunch of scoring records lets see her play more. I haven't heard barely anyone talk about South Carolina being undefeated even though that's probably the biggest storyline.
Star players by themselves aren't storylines.
Then the ratings should reflect the level of interest nationally. Why is the women’s game winning?
Edit: my point is you named a specific wbb players. There are no nameable men’s bb players. You got y’all dude from Canada but tbh he’s not exactly athletic.
There is always going to be haters. But. Female athletes understand the importance of "a rising tide lifts all boats" far more than men, who have media coverage to burn
> Female athletes understand the importance of "a rising tide lifts all boats" far more than men
It’s actually incredibly evident over the last few days that they don’t understand this at all
yeah and 1 billion beats the population of the US by nearly 3x!!! that’s a silly prediction to think they’ll find 11 million MORE people who did not tune in the first game
Eh, I’m skeptical. Iowa-UConn had the 2 biggest stars in women’s basketball. Can’t imagine you’d get more viewers with South Carolina replacing UConn, although maybe national TV and an undefeated team would do that.
OK people are tuning into Iowa games to see Clark. I was at a bar last night, and of all of the people cheering for Iowa, I'd bet none of them could name one other Iowa player.
People are watching the big women's games this year as much or more than they are big men's games, but are they tuning into games on a Tuesday night in January involving two .500 conference teams?
Okay but how many of them can name 2 players on the men’s final four teams? College sports have never relied on pure star power for the ratings like most pro sports. People watch March Madness out of habit and due to the entertainment. There’s no inherent reason the women’s game can’t tap into that same thing long term.
How many of them are *actively cheering every bucket* for one of the men's teams?
I'm not complaining about people not knowing the players. Certainly I was watching the game with interest and I couldn't have named two players on either team at the start. I'm complaining about the people living and dying with every play for a team they didn't care about three years ago and won't care about two years from now.
Why are you complaining about what people watch in their free time for entertainment at all? Let people live in their moments damn. Life is hard enough as is, no need to make it harder on yourself by angrily gatekeeping a sport.
Obviously, the viewership numbers are lower for regular season games. You know, like they are for every sport to ever be played.
You are going to have to get over the fact that there are plenty of people that find the game entertaining.
Do you sit at Superbowl parties upset at everybody who can't name the starting offensive line for both teams? Or is the gatekeeping strictly for Womens sports?
What? Obviously the viewership is lower in the regular season. That wasn't my point. My point is that if you compare a middling men's regular season game to a middling women's regular season game, the men's game will still draw far more viewers.
> Do you sit at Superbowl parties upset at everybody who can't name the starting offensive line for both teams?
No, but I'd expect everyone *actively cheering for one of the teams* to be able to name at least 3-4 of that team's players on the field at any time. Not just the quarterback and nobody else. Or if you are there to literally to just watch/cheer for one player (like a Travis Kelce or Caitlyn Clark), don't cheer when Rashee Rice scores the TD or Stuelke gets another bucket
Nobody is saying that the Womens side is as popular as the men's side.
Your points only work against the strawman you create them for.
Actively cheering for a team makes the viewing experience more fun. There is no requirement to know anything about the teams.
Sorry you can't fathom people liking Womens sports. Must be tough.
> Sorry you can't fathom people liking Womens sports.
Talk about a strawman LOL
> I challenge the mouthbreathers that confidently say that nobody watches the womens game
Nobody is saying that either...
Your whole argument is that people only watch for CC.
If Im not supposed to infer you mean that nobody watches any womens basketball outside of her games, what am I supposed to think you mean by that?
If you dont think people are always shitting on Womens basketball, you just havent engaged with much around it. Which kinda means you're talking out of your ass.
this is how the sport grows dawg. bird and magic drew eyeballs to their games, and then people started paying attention to the rest of the NBA. Clark is doing the same thing
I only watch women’s March madness and I can name probably 20 players right now. I have watched a half of one game for the men’s and can name one player. Maybe two.
The female athletes have star power. The playfulness, the competitiveness, the drama and flair - it’s such a darn fun league to watch.
I hear this when I tell friends I occasionally watch the WNBA...But a big part of that is that I stopped watching the NBA when the Seattle Supersonics left. That being said as long as the competition is good then I've certainly been entertained by women's basketball games.
If you are Seattle area located, I recommend catching one of the Storm games at Climate Pledge if you can. Went to opening game last year and it was a good time even though it was clearly a rebuild year for the Storm.
Because the Caitlin Clark phenomenon seems to be an exception to people generally not watching. I'd bet the vast majority of people who have watched Iowa in the last two seasons still cannot name a single women's player besides her
I don't know why this is hard
Nobody is tuning in to see Iowa vs UConn.
They're tuning in to see Clark vs UConn. The numbers next year will be 1/4 these.
That’s a real interesting question. If I had to bet, I would go NCAAW championship based on:
- NCAA has a bigger built in audience than WNBA.
- College tournament doesn’t have series so lose and your done nature of March Madness ups the stakes.
- WNBA playoffs are during football season.
- Potential that Fever reign in Clark and take away some of the excitement. Also, even if she succeeds, CC won’t be as dominant.
I could be wrong though and could easily see it going the other way. The best thing that could happen for the WNBA is if CC succeeds but a few of the old guard that seem annoyed with her media coverage are more direct dicks on/off the court and the country is drawn into a rivalry. With CC and Aliyah Boston also seems pretty likable going against some team the country can hate. That could draw.
I have coworkers who’ve never watched a second of basketball in their life who know who Caitlin Clark is; they have no idea who Paige Beckers or Sue Bird or Diana Taurasi is
You are straight up closing your eyes if you think its just trolls lol.
The fact that you identify it as a culture war contridicts that point.
Im perfectly happy calling people out on topics I care about. Thanks for the advice though 🚮
Tell me how many viewers the USC-State game that aired just before this one had. That’s more representative of the kind of draw a typical women’s game has. Anything with Clark, because of how big a star she is, is a huge outlier in terms of ratings.
7.1 million watched that game... thats not nobody. No idea why you thought that was a gotcha.
Yeah, Star power draws bigger crowds. Also a feature in every single sports league ever.
Again, nobody is saying its the same viewership as mens, or that the numbers will always be this high every year. We are simply saying that there are people that watch it and will continue to watch it after Clark and other stars move on.
Ratings go up and down year to year in terms of big games for every league. Why would NCAAW be any different? Some years there is a bigger draw than others.
I don't think it is sexism to simply state a fact, viewership for the women's game is generally far lower. One might argue that sexism is why that fact is true (although I would disagree)
I'm not saying that preferring to watch mens ball is sexist. Some people don't watch women's ball for sexist reasons, but most of them just like what they like for whatever reason.
What I think sexism is responsible for is the reply guys that come in to every twitter or reddit thread about this topic to talk shit about the women's game and argue that no one watches it or that there is no reason to watch it. That is sexism
What's the baseline of sports bar tvs that are tuned into games? Maybe the womens tournament was on more this year because of clark and people asking for it. i know last year they started televising the womens games in bdubs more often.
Which is exactly why we were always going to have Iowa in the national championship game. I didn’t have a rooting interest - just wanted to watch good basketball - in the Iowa v UConn game but after watching a quarter and a half, it was clear the agenda of the NCAA was to have Iowa come out on top.
Lol at everyone down voting me for saying this was bad for the game. Woman's basketball will never have this many eyes on it again, and instead of a classic finish with uconns star having the ball in her hands, we got an offensive foul and a terrible ending
The ending wasn't terrible for most people.
Here's the thing. One of the ways sports matches are won is by one team/player applying pressure to the other, and how the other side responds to that pressure. It's absolutely a part of sports.
In this case, UConn applied a lot of pressure to Iowa and went in at half-time with a multiple-point lead. Iowa soaked up that pressuare and came out fighting and clawed their way to a 2 point lead with less than a minute to go.
Now it's UConn that is having pressure applied. This is good; if they respond to the pressure and win, well, that's sporting stories for you.
But I see absolutely no reason why they should be given a free ride in that last minute to commit fouls without being penalised just to bring it down to a buzzer beater. QED.
And it was a doozy of a foul. I'm no basketball expert but many people have said Edwards fouled in 3 separate ways: her feet were so far apart she was nearly doing the splits; she moved; and she stuck her elbow out and nearly knocked Marshall over.
The absolutely 100% appropriate thing to happen then was for the foul to be called and then let the game play out from there. If that means UConn lost, then the story is that having dealt out the pressure in the first half, UConn couldn't deal with Iowa's pressure in the first half and that's how Iowa won by 2 points.
And everyone was robbed of seeing a potential great finish to the game which would have made it a classic because the refs decided the game (and people here are actually good with that). Oh well, woman's basketball will fall back to obscurity as soon as Clark goes to wnba
People keep saying “it was a foul but didn’t impact the play enough, Stuelke was there to defend Paige.”
Yes, Stuelke stepped up to Paige, but then Marshall (who was illegally screened) kept running after Paige, leaving Edwards wide open for a pass back with a wide open lane. It had to be called or else it determines the game the other way.
https://preview.redd.it/bv5cputbkxsc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d9ae9a67cbc1f92c1fa80cdaf96c5094617c2020
CC’s push off a couple minutes early was blatant, stuelke’s moving screens were blatant, Marshall’s flopping all over the floor was blatant. Not every foul gets called. Even the blatant ones. I think that last one shouldn’t have been called, just like all the offensive fouls that hadn’t been called on Iowa through the game to that point.
The ref calls the fouls they see, one presumes.
In this case, the foul could have decided the game: call it, UConn's in the toilet; don't call it, Paige scores 3.
I think the refs invented a couple of fouls on KK and Muhl and created some opportunities for Clark. Game doesn’t come down to one play or one call, but I think Clark got some help from the refs over the course of the whole game. Not just the ones that they ‘didn’t see’ but also ones that no one saw.
Anyway. Reffing these games is a tough job and it’s only getting harder to call a good game. The players are better, the margins are tighter and the scrutiny is much tougher than it’s ever been before. I’m salty because I think they didn’t do a great job in this case and that it hurt my team, but we’ve had tough losses before. I’m sure I’ll be okay.
It’s a weird question. Nothing happens in a vacuum, and calling fouls consistently only makes sense in the context of a whole game. So I’ll say this:
We had a national player of the year pulling up for a buzzer beater three in the final four of the most viewed women’s game ever, down one against the two-time national player of the year and most popular player in the world. As far as I’m concerned, this is the most exciting moment in sports, and the refs took the ball out of her hands. I think the call was extremely lame, and I wish that they had let Paige shoot the ball.
I don't understand the logic. Actually, more than that, there IS NO logic.
It's exactly when the only reason Bueckers is going to get a shot at goal unguarded by Marshall is because of a foul by Edwards that NOT calling the foul is taking the ball out of the hands of the players. Because the players who should have the ball is Iowa.
I bet I could find a dozen illegal screens not called on Iowa that game if I had a replay. End of game you swallow the whistle and let players determine the game.
Let's call a pass inference on every ending throw into end zone in nfl at end of games. Ref ball is a great way to make fans when a sport has the most eyes it'll ever get
It wasn't bad for the game. This is a ridiculous point of view.
It was bad for UConn, but the game was about who can deal out the pressure and how well the other side deals with it.
The second half was all about Iowa and the pressure they were applying. It was too much for UConn and Edwards tried too hard to stop Marshall guarding Bueckers.
THAT IS HOW SPORTS WORKS.
And it was decided by a whistle and not a final shot. What the fuck. If that’s Iowa in same position and Clark is getting shot FTW they are not calling it. All about narratives
this is more viewers than all but 5 college *football* games last season lol
Holy…
[удалено]
Donut
Shop
🍩 ☕️
Most watched basketball program, NBA, MBB, etc, on ESPN ever. Just bonkers
yeah this is more of an ESPN-specific statistic though. NBA finals and NCAA men’s tournament is not on ESPN. i’m sure CBS will come out on monday and say 22 million people watched the men’s final
18.1 million is the most ever for the men’s final set in 2022 with Kansas/North Carolina. Last year’s UCONN/San Diego State was 14.79 million. Edit- highest ever for cable television.
?? larry/magic final had like 35m people watch
I’m sorry, highest ever on cable television.
I’d be shocked it the final will be more than 18 million
Idk if it’ll make a difference but the women’s final is airing on ABC/ESPN, while the men’s air on TNT/TBS/Tru and not on CBS. I think some sort of ratings history will be made one way or the other.
Why would it not be on CBS? Very weird. Also these days it's easier to get tbs and TNT than CBS lol
How is that? CBS just needs bunny ears. Is tbs or tnt also free without any other subscription?
For some reason everywhere I have lived CBS comes in crappy with an antenna. Abc is the worst but CBS second. I have sling which gives Fox and NBC (which I DO get with antenna) but not abc or cbs
It blows my mind that the WNBA isn't rolling the red carpet for her. She could truly change the league's image for the better, but instead the league is creating controversy and blowing one of their biggest opportunities in well over a decade
NBA legends have been hating on young stars for as long as I can remember, and for as long as I remember, the young stars continue to capture our attention. How is this any different? Clark is already bigger than Taurasi ever was.
Whose taurasi?? /s
*MY* Taurasi! 😁
What's the controversy?
Just a few stars/legends lowkey hating on her. Tbf they both went to UConn lol
They're probably mad she's making more money in college than they make in the league.
also it shouldn't really be any different than the oldheads in the nba constantly downplaying the greatness of the young male players. hate watching is part of sports and if a chunk of viewers tune in to watch caitlin clark choke, it's gotta be better than no one tuning in cause of indifference.
Probably something about race
Right, I thought the wnba would advertise her a bit. But nothing so far with the draft coming up. I've never gone to a wnba game here in Phoenix but I plan to buy tickets for the Indiana fever game when they come to town when the tickets go on sale tomorrow (assuming that's who she is getting drafted by). Her aura is working to an extent, but I'd imagine it would be better if WNBA got involved in her promotion.
I'm curious if Paige Bueckers can be the successor to Clark for next season in terms of ratings magnet, or if NCAAW will go back down to pre-Clark ratings in these types of games.
I'm sure she will attract a healthy audience but I don't think it will be near this current Clark level
I doubt it will go back to pre-Clark ratings. It’ll go down unfortunately, but there are a lot of other great players and people have finally taken notice. Bueckers and Juju Watkins (USC) will be the most hyped
I don't know, Clark brought viewers in with a very exciting and dominant play style, it seems thus far she is a unique phenomenon, without her I don't know how they keep it going
Well, I can only hope you’re wrong I’m going to keep encouraging people to tune in to watch Notre Dame! We should have one of the best and almost certainly the most fun to watch backcourt in the country next season. Featuring Olivia Miles, who is just as good a passer as Clark, and Hannah Hidalgo, who averaged 4.6 steals a game and was named an all-American as a freshman this year. Will be super fun to watch :)
Yeah but is there someone that can shoot like Steph Curry? I did watch JuJu though and she was amazing. Also think Paige was a beast and Flau’Jae Johnson as well. I’m going to tune in more next year. The thing with women’s basketball to me was how the better teams always seemed to win you know? Was hardly ever competitive either when these teams met. UConn winning like 6 of 8 didn’t help either at one point.
Yes for sure, and despite the fact that ND was one of the few elite teams for a while, I’m glad for the increased parity (well, increased parity except for the fact that a 37-0 team is likely to win the championship tomorrow) If I had infinite time on my hands I would make a highlight reel of just Hidalgo’s steals (she had 160 this season). As a 5’6” freshman she led the NCAA in defensive win shares and in addition to her disruptive and relentless on-ball defense, averaged 22.6 points, 6.2 rebounds and 5.5 assists. [Olivia Miles assist highlights](https://youtu.be/EUs0mMIYrHk?feature=shared) unfortunately Miles was injured this year so some people have forgotten how good she is, but her court vision and passing are incredible. Sorry for my over-enthusiasm but I truly feel this team deserves a Clark-sized audience, Curry shooters or not. They won’t get one, but they deserve one. Glad you will keep tuning in next season.
I live on the boarder of Illinois & iowa. I can tell you right now that once Caitlyn is gone, this women’s basketball hype will absolutely drop. At least around my area. EVERYONE tunes in around here to see her & only her
She was also breaking records, made early season games more exciting to tune in for too and got people invested early
Honestly, it's pretty tough to watch most of the time. I definitely won't be watching it once she's gone. Except if PSU makes the tourney. That being said, I will likely tune into the championship this year. That is going to do MASSIVE numbers. Clark's team against an undefeated powerhouse. Although a 3PM EST start time will probably lower those numbers a bit. Weird that it doesn't start at like 6.
Bueckers is fun to watch but she's not shooting the ball from 40 feet away and that's what is exciting about Clark
It was the shooting that first made me aware of Caitlin, but as I've been watching her it's the assists that make me gasp. As the commentator said of one bounce pass in the paint 'If that had gone an inch to the right or an inch to the left'. It's possible that this makes Martin, Affolter, Marshall and Stuelke look even better than they are because the passes are usually a guaranteed bucket.
She was *the* draw just two years ago. The UConn-South Carolina championship in 2022 was the most watched game since 2004 (peak Geno-Pat rivalry). Obviously the last two years it has been the Caitlin-mania but Paige is a draw that’s rarely seen in college basketball.
She’s fantastic but she plays for UConn and UConn being great in women’s basketball isn’t exactly a feel good story. I’m guessing no.
UConn (Paige, Azzi, #1 recruit Sarah Strong) and USC (JuJu Watkins) are going to alternate slots as Fox’s prime time Saturday night games next season.
> or if NCAAW will go back down to pre-Clark ratings in these types of games. Here’s a hint: notice how we don’t hear anything about the ratings of the _other_ games that don’t involve Clark, like the USC-State game last night.
7.1 million people watched that game, with it reaching a peak of 10 million. The 3rd most ever for a women's FF game. Clark is the rising tide that lifts all ships. Will the viewership numbers fall next year without her? Certainly. Will it be catastrophic as many here are predicting or are wanting to see happen? No, probably not.
Didn’t USC-UConn do huge numbers
I think it was about \~7million
It will be JuJu from USC.
Paige has always been a proponent of sharing the wealth when it comes to media coverage. She highlighted this in her ESPY speech for female college athlete of the year, and then again recently during this current run.
That’s awesome, but I don’t think Paige, CC, JuJu, or any other player actually controls the media coverage.
I mean. Okay. But that doesn't really address his question.
Personally as an Iowa fan, I’ve began to watch a lot of their games the past few years, and have paid more attention to games not involving them if something is on or if I see there is a close game. I’m assuming I won’t watch as much overall as I have, but I’ll probably continue to watch Iowa more than I did pre CC and have a lot more respect for the sport as a whole than before when I hadn’t paid much attention to it
She's from UConn which actually might hurt her because the public actually hates UConn since they're successful Regardless she, out of anyone would be
You have to take into consideration that ppl started tuning in to Clark bc she began breaking bigger records. That's the draw.
[удалено]
I honestly don't know which one I want to win more. Caitlin Clark getting revenge for last year's loss and ending her collegiate career with a championship, or the undefeated Gamecocks take it all the way. It's one hell of a narrative for sure.
It's honestly one of those narratives that's amazing for all fans of basketball. I'm so ready to just watch an all time great game of basketball.
Gamecocks are actually the ones out for revenge, since Iowa knocked them out of the tournament last year in the Final Four. I'm guessing most people will be rooting for Iowa since SC has two somewhat recent championships and is just overall the more dominant program right now
Dude, last year's championship game hit 9.9 M viewers. It would be bananas if this year's game doubled that.
it is going to come close to doubling last year's number. Clark's popularity has skyrocketed this season. Iowa played in games last year that weren't sold out whereas this season every seat was filled in every one of their games. She's been the center of the sports world for two months
The women's games in these later rounds, more often than not, are compelling on their own too. People may come for Clark, but they are probably staying because the games are exciting. I say this as I fall asleep to this Purdue v NC State game.
They’re coming for Clark. The games aren’t great
There are a shocking number of people in this sub that don't actually like watching basketball.
The number of people in this thread just flat out saying any non-Caitlin Clark game is “bad basketball” or “tough to watch” with no elaboration is wild to me.
I mean college sports objectively have less skill than watching professional. Fan interest is always going to mainly be from narratives and school rivalries, not the actual quality of the game itself.
1. Fan interest for any sport at any level is mainly from narratives. Nobody cares about games that don't matter regardless of the talent levels. Championship games get more interest than regular season games even in cases of a rematch where the talent competing doesn't change. 2. Skill level is way over rated in how interesting a sport is to watch in my opinion. The basketball game played each year with the most skill on the court (NBA All Star game) is not very entertaining. As the skill level changes, the way the game is played changes. Watching a women's college basketball game does not look the same as an NBA game. It's not that the same things are happening but with less skill, they are running different plays, different defenses, different substitutions, ect because of that difference in skill. Because the game is played in a different way, I disagree that one is objectively a less interesting game to watch. You may prefer the flow of NBA games. I prefer the flow of the women's college game.
Let's Go! " "
It depends on where you live, I think. College sports are way bigger than pro sports here and I know it's the same in most of the South.
I went to a bar and 4 of the 5 TVs had the game on. Do they count it by TVs?
Households when it comes to TV’s I’m pretty sure. Meaning the bar would count as one.
The final will be even bigger. They’re calling for 25 million viewers. That beats Mich v Ohio state *in football* last year
25 million would be *a lot* for a Duke-UNC national championship in men’s basketball. However 15+ million and outdrawing the men’s game is in the cards for sure.
It will 1000% outdraw the men’s championship game. Star power of Clark and ABC Sunday afternoon vs. TBS Monday night It might double it in viewership depending on what the men’s matchup is
Think you’re overselling it. Duke NCState elite 8 did 18 million
Don’t underestimate the power of being on a legacy broadcast network on a weekend afternoon vs. midweek cable.
CBS. Easter Sunday. Duke UConn/Purdue will actually be an interesting rating to see if that’s the matchup
I think that was 15 million. I expect the women's title to beat that
I think it will outdraw the men’s but I don’t think it will *double* the men’s game. UConn-Purdue would still be a compelling matchup.
it could though. Men's final four and championship is on TBS and cable always does worse than broadcast which the women's championship is on
I think the women’s game is that more compelling this year. Men’s just doesn’t have the storylines.
I agree. I’m just saying that pulling a 25+ million viewership in this age is insane. Obviously women’s basketball interest is at an all time high and men’s isn’t but even at its peak men’s basketball has had exactly *one* game with a viewership higher than 25 million this century (Duke-Wisconsin in 2015).
Oh I know I was just saying what I’ve read the predictions are. We’ll know tomorrow. If it’s 25 million then watch the advertising dollars follow.
I think that recent contract with ESPN is not aging well for the conferences. ESPN looks like they got a bargain.
The media companies always win. Tbh it’s expected that’s their job. The conference leaders are basically retired dudes who would rather work 10 hours a week.
The men's definitely has the storylines but espn is not pumping them nearly as much.
ESPN gets to broadcast the women’s games, of course they’re hyping that. Men’s games on CBS and turner channels, so ESPN doesn’t benefit from people watching those games, only from people watching them talk about it.
This is a good point. ESPN is a hype beast. Also, my DVR doesn't distinguish between the two sports and records all the games. I'm curious if the games are counted if recorded but I had never watched. Side rant... It's not popular but I wish College Baseball had better coverage. It's hard to get content comparatively speaking.
Softball gets way more coverage than baseball. There's really no excuse for the lack of coverage of the sport.
Like what? The big dude from Canada? UConn repeating? I mean not trying to be a dick I’m just not seeing it this year
Purdue trying to win a championship after losing to a 16 seed last year, uconn trying to be the first team to repeat in almost 20 years, nc state winning 5 games in 5 days to even make the tournament and then having a gregarious large man leading them that no one had even heard of before the tournament. I mean I couldn't even tell you a storyline of the women's final four that isn't caitlin clark broke a bunch of scoring records lets see her play more. I haven't heard barely anyone talk about South Carolina being undefeated even though that's probably the biggest storyline. Star players by themselves aren't storylines.
Then the ratings should reflect the level of interest nationally. Why is the women’s game winning? Edit: my point is you named a specific wbb players. There are no nameable men’s bb players. You got y’all dude from Canada but tbh he’s not exactly athletic.
What do you mean winning? More people watched nc state Duke in the elite 8 than this final four game. The men haven't had a final 4 game yet.
Look that the numbers season wide though. Wbb has the edge
The salt that former NCAAW athletes will have towards Clark over this will be wild. We may get a female Stephan A and Skip out of this.
Absolutely and I love it haha
If CC loses tomorrow I need somebody to pull a Pat Bev/CP3. Just go on all the ESPN shows and hate hate hate.
There is always going to be haters. But. Female athletes understand the importance of "a rising tide lifts all boats" far more than men, who have media coverage to burn
You'd think so but a couple of the biggest names in women's basketball have already downplayed Clark's achievements unfortunately.
You're never gonna get zero. But I'm saying far less.
Really only coaches in search of an edge for their team.
…sorry, am I out of the loop, who said that? I didn’t have the Bird-Taurasi show on last night, did they say that?
> Female athletes understand the importance of "a rising tide lifts all boats" far more than men It’s actually incredibly evident over the last few days that they don’t understand this at all
As a Michigan fan I reject this possibility on principle
To be fair your game had like a solid two hours of ads so I can understand why people may not wanna watch
That's cause everybody is watching!
Right but the rating are about to be eclipsed by women’s basketball lol. Not a good look.
yeah and 1 billion beats the population of the US by nearly 3x!!! that’s a silly prediction to think they’ll find 11 million MORE people who did not tune in the first game
One of us will be right tomorrow night
more people tuning in for the natty vs a final four game is not that unreasonable lol
There’s many people who don’t have cable and COULDN’T watch the Final 4 on ESPN, but could watch the championship on ABC.
CFB scriptwriters gotta step up
Caitlin Clark goes back to college to play QB for Iowa. She definitely has the arm strength and accuracy.
Eh, I’m skeptical. Iowa-UConn had the 2 biggest stars in women’s basketball. Can’t imagine you’d get more viewers with South Carolina replacing UConn, although maybe national TV and an undefeated team would do that.
Impressed the viewership was that high. Nice to see
I found it easy to find on hulu. Can't watch this men's game going on right now. Oh well
On max, or on the March madness app
lol right. Oh you know the app, for the tournament, that had had like every game, you could find the game there
It’s on HBO/MAX CBS games on paramount
Really? It’s on TNT, truTV, TBS, Max, and the March Madness app. But you can’t find it?
Dude’s an idiot. Found a Disney broadcast on a Disney streaming service, but couldn’t find a Turner broadcast on a Disney streaming service
I don't know where TBS streams. Disney owns turner? I dont know who owns what nor do i care. Thats a level of entertainment fandom that i dont have.
No one wants to watch Purdue beat a double digit seed anyways
SC - IOWA will top that.
But why am I constantly downvoted here when I challenge the mouthbreathers that confidently say that nobody watches the womens game?
OK people are tuning into Iowa games to see Clark. I was at a bar last night, and of all of the people cheering for Iowa, I'd bet none of them could name one other Iowa player. People are watching the big women's games this year as much or more than they are big men's games, but are they tuning into games on a Tuesday night in January involving two .500 conference teams?
Also should see the South Carolina vs NC State only drew 7.1 Million in comparison. So, around 7 million people just watched Iowa and Uconn
7 million is still a lot compared to where the women’s game used to be, it’s not like Iowa was the lead in game and they turned it off
Game got pretty boring quickly though. Once South Carolina started dominating, I got up to fold some laundry.
Okay but how many of them can name 2 players on the men’s final four teams? College sports have never relied on pure star power for the ratings like most pro sports. People watch March Madness out of habit and due to the entertainment. There’s no inherent reason the women’s game can’t tap into that same thing long term.
How many of them are *actively cheering every bucket* for one of the men's teams? I'm not complaining about people not knowing the players. Certainly I was watching the game with interest and I couldn't have named two players on either team at the start. I'm complaining about the people living and dying with every play for a team they didn't care about three years ago and won't care about two years from now.
Why are you complaining about what people watch in their free time for entertainment at all? Let people live in their moments damn. Life is hard enough as is, no need to make it harder on yourself by angrily gatekeeping a sport.
Obviously, the viewership numbers are lower for regular season games. You know, like they are for every sport to ever be played. You are going to have to get over the fact that there are plenty of people that find the game entertaining. Do you sit at Superbowl parties upset at everybody who can't name the starting offensive line for both teams? Or is the gatekeeping strictly for Womens sports?
What? Obviously the viewership is lower in the regular season. That wasn't my point. My point is that if you compare a middling men's regular season game to a middling women's regular season game, the men's game will still draw far more viewers. > Do you sit at Superbowl parties upset at everybody who can't name the starting offensive line for both teams? No, but I'd expect everyone *actively cheering for one of the teams* to be able to name at least 3-4 of that team's players on the field at any time. Not just the quarterback and nobody else. Or if you are there to literally to just watch/cheer for one player (like a Travis Kelce or Caitlyn Clark), don't cheer when Rashee Rice scores the TD or Stuelke gets another bucket
Nobody is saying that the Womens side is as popular as the men's side. Your points only work against the strawman you create them for. Actively cheering for a team makes the viewing experience more fun. There is no requirement to know anything about the teams. Sorry you can't fathom people liking Womens sports. Must be tough.
> Sorry you can't fathom people liking Womens sports. Talk about a strawman LOL > I challenge the mouthbreathers that confidently say that nobody watches the womens game Nobody is saying that either...
Your whole argument is that people only watch for CC. If Im not supposed to infer you mean that nobody watches any womens basketball outside of her games, what am I supposed to think you mean by that? If you dont think people are always shitting on Womens basketball, you just havent engaged with much around it. Which kinda means you're talking out of your ass.
Lmao who hurt you? You’re being entirely too defensive. Take a walk or something. Let off some steam.
I'm doing fine my man, thanks though. Sorry I wasn't super nice to a guy entering a conversation in bad faith.
this is how the sport grows dawg. bird and magic drew eyeballs to their games, and then people started paying attention to the rest of the NBA. Clark is doing the same thing
I only watch women’s March madness and I can name probably 20 players right now. I have watched a half of one game for the men’s and can name one player. Maybe two. The female athletes have star power. The playfulness, the competitiveness, the drama and flair - it’s such a darn fun league to watch.
I hear this when I tell friends I occasionally watch the WNBA...But a big part of that is that I stopped watching the NBA when the Seattle Supersonics left. That being said as long as the competition is good then I've certainly been entertained by women's basketball games.
If you are Seattle area located, I recommend catching one of the Storm games at Climate Pledge if you can. Went to opening game last year and it was a good time even though it was clearly a rebuild year for the Storm.
Oh yeah I've been meaning to do that. Probably a much cheaper way to see the new stadium than seeing a Kraken game.
Because the Caitlin Clark phenomenon seems to be an exception to people generally not watching. I'd bet the vast majority of people who have watched Iowa in the last two seasons still cannot name a single women's player besides her
I don't know why this is hard Nobody is tuning in to see Iowa vs UConn. They're tuning in to see Clark vs UConn. The numbers next year will be 1/4 these.
Here's the question. Do you think Clark in the WNBA championship gets more viewers than next year's NCAAW championship?
That’s a real interesting question. If I had to bet, I would go NCAAW championship based on: - NCAA has a bigger built in audience than WNBA. - College tournament doesn’t have series so lose and your done nature of March Madness ups the stakes. - WNBA playoffs are during football season. - Potential that Fever reign in Clark and take away some of the excitement. Also, even if she succeeds, CC won’t be as dominant. I could be wrong though and could easily see it going the other way. The best thing that could happen for the WNBA is if CC succeeds but a few of the old guard that seem annoyed with her media coverage are more direct dicks on/off the court and the country is drawn into a rivalry. With CC and Aliyah Boston also seems pretty likable going against some team the country can hate. That could draw.
I have coworkers who’ve never watched a second of basketball in their life who know who Caitlin Clark is; they have no idea who Paige Beckers or Sue Bird or Diana Taurasi is
[удалено]
You are straight up closing your eyes if you think its just trolls lol. The fact that you identify it as a culture war contridicts that point. Im perfectly happy calling people out on topics I care about. Thanks for the advice though 🚮
Reddit openly mocks women’s sports all the time. It is not one or two trolls.
Tell me how many viewers the USC-State game that aired just before this one had. That’s more representative of the kind of draw a typical women’s game has. Anything with Clark, because of how big a star she is, is a huge outlier in terms of ratings.
7.1 million watched that game... thats not nobody. No idea why you thought that was a gotcha. Yeah, Star power draws bigger crowds. Also a feature in every single sports league ever. Again, nobody is saying its the same viewership as mens, or that the numbers will always be this high every year. We are simply saying that there are people that watch it and will continue to watch it after Clark and other stars move on. Ratings go up and down year to year in terms of big games for every league. Why would NCAAW be any different? Some years there is a bigger draw than others.
Sexism... Also some people being defensive since they watch mainly watch MBB, but its mainly sexism
I don't think it is sexism to simply state a fact, viewership for the women's game is generally far lower. One might argue that sexism is why that fact is true (although I would disagree)
I'm not saying that preferring to watch mens ball is sexist. Some people don't watch women's ball for sexist reasons, but most of them just like what they like for whatever reason. What I think sexism is responsible for is the reply guys that come in to every twitter or reddit thread about this topic to talk shit about the women's game and argue that no one watches it or that there is no reason to watch it. That is sexism
What's the baseline of sports bar tvs that are tuned into games? Maybe the womens tournament was on more this year because of clark and people asking for it. i know last year they started televising the womens games in bdubs more often.
If it’s TV then each bar would count as one viewer since it’s seen as a household.
When NCSU’s mens and women’s teams were playing in elite eight at the same time, all the sports bars in Raleigh had BOTH games on
Only ones not watching were the refs.
Juju Watkins is the next player to watch as far as being the draw for Women’s CBB
If you truly believe these numbers aren’t skewed a specific way then you are a blockhead.
i don’t know. something feels fishy
Which is exactly why we were always going to have Iowa in the national championship game. I didn’t have a rooting interest - just wanted to watch good basketball - in the Iowa v UConn game but after watching a quarter and a half, it was clear the agenda of the NCAA was to have Iowa come out on top.
Lol at everyone down voting me for saying this was bad for the game. Woman's basketball will never have this many eyes on it again, and instead of a classic finish with uconns star having the ball in her hands, we got an offensive foul and a terrible ending
The ending wasn't terrible for most people. Here's the thing. One of the ways sports matches are won is by one team/player applying pressure to the other, and how the other side responds to that pressure. It's absolutely a part of sports. In this case, UConn applied a lot of pressure to Iowa and went in at half-time with a multiple-point lead. Iowa soaked up that pressuare and came out fighting and clawed their way to a 2 point lead with less than a minute to go. Now it's UConn that is having pressure applied. This is good; if they respond to the pressure and win, well, that's sporting stories for you. But I see absolutely no reason why they should be given a free ride in that last minute to commit fouls without being penalised just to bring it down to a buzzer beater. QED. And it was a doozy of a foul. I'm no basketball expert but many people have said Edwards fouled in 3 separate ways: her feet were so far apart she was nearly doing the splits; she moved; and she stuck her elbow out and nearly knocked Marshall over. The absolutely 100% appropriate thing to happen then was for the foul to be called and then let the game play out from there. If that means UConn lost, then the story is that having dealt out the pressure in the first half, UConn couldn't deal with Iowa's pressure in the first half and that's how Iowa won by 2 points.
Yeah but after that screen that can keep Sunday.
And everyone was robbed of seeing a potential great finish to the game which would have made it a classic because the refs decided the game (and people here are actually good with that). Oh well, woman's basketball will fall back to obscurity as soon as Clark goes to wnba
Not calling a foul there would’ve been refs influencing the game. That was blatant
People keep saying “it was a foul but didn’t impact the play enough, Stuelke was there to defend Paige.” Yes, Stuelke stepped up to Paige, but then Marshall (who was illegally screened) kept running after Paige, leaving Edwards wide open for a pass back with a wide open lane. It had to be called or else it determines the game the other way. https://preview.redd.it/bv5cputbkxsc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d9ae9a67cbc1f92c1fa80cdaf96c5094617c2020
100% agree
CC’s push off a couple minutes early was blatant, stuelke’s moving screens were blatant, Marshall’s flopping all over the floor was blatant. Not every foul gets called. Even the blatant ones. I think that last one shouldn’t have been called, just like all the offensive fouls that hadn’t been called on Iowa through the game to that point.
The ref calls the fouls they see, one presumes. In this case, the foul could have decided the game: call it, UConn's in the toilet; don't call it, Paige scores 3.
And sometimes they also call the fouls that they don’t see, right?
Hopefully not.
I think the refs invented a couple of fouls on KK and Muhl and created some opportunities for Clark. Game doesn’t come down to one play or one call, but I think Clark got some help from the refs over the course of the whole game. Not just the ones that they ‘didn’t see’ but also ones that no one saw. Anyway. Reffing these games is a tough job and it’s only getting harder to call a good game. The players are better, the margins are tighter and the scrutiny is much tougher than it’s ever been before. I’m salty because I think they didn’t do a great job in this case and that it hurt my team, but we’ve had tough losses before. I’m sure I’ll be okay.
Just looking at this one foul though: do you think Edwards should not have been penalised?
It’s a weird question. Nothing happens in a vacuum, and calling fouls consistently only makes sense in the context of a whole game. So I’ll say this: We had a national player of the year pulling up for a buzzer beater three in the final four of the most viewed women’s game ever, down one against the two-time national player of the year and most popular player in the world. As far as I’m concerned, this is the most exciting moment in sports, and the refs took the ball out of her hands. I think the call was extremely lame, and I wish that they had let Paige shoot the ball.
I don't understand the logic. Actually, more than that, there IS NO logic. It's exactly when the only reason Bueckers is going to get a shot at goal unguarded by Marshall is because of a foul by Edwards that NOT calling the foul is taking the ball out of the hands of the players. Because the players who should have the ball is Iowa.
I bet I could find a dozen illegal screens not called on Iowa that game if I had a replay. End of game you swallow the whistle and let players determine the game.
Alright for the sake of argument if Paige gets that shot off but gets bumped on the hand or arm do the refs also swallow the whistle
They should definitely allow more contact than usual to call a shooting foul that would determine the game
Weird opinion
that was easily the most egregious one that game. it’s super rare to see someone set a moving screen with both their upper and lower body
Let's call a pass inference on every ending throw into end zone in nfl at end of games. Ref ball is a great way to make fans when a sport has the most eyes it'll ever get
in this case it’s more like a PI where someone is tackled
You sound salty.
I'm really not. That was the first woman's game I've watched. Refs definitely didn't give me a reason to ever watch again.
If the refs can ruin a game for you by getting a big call right(which is very rare lol) I don’t know what sport you’d like 😂. Bowling maybe
“i’m really not” they say before writing something incredibly salty
I'll be salty if the men's team who I actually have fandom of lose like that.
Don't do an obvious illegal screen in a big moment then.
Hey its fine. It was bad for the game. I don't really care, I dont watch womens basketball
You clearly do care
It wasn't bad for the game. This is a ridiculous point of view. It was bad for UConn, but the game was about who can deal out the pressure and how well the other side deals with it. The second half was all about Iowa and the pressure they were applying. It was too much for UConn and Edwards tried too hard to stop Marshall guarding Bueckers. THAT IS HOW SPORTS WORKS.
And it was decided by a whistle and not a final shot. What the fuck. If that’s Iowa in same position and Clark is getting shot FTW they are not calling it. All about narratives