Thanks to Caitlin Clark, women’s basketball is now prime time viewing

CNN —

Two years ago, I could never have predicted the hype which surrounds tonight’s NCAA women’s basketball Final Four.

It was only last year that this casual, although at times serious, sports fan met a basketball hall of famer and didn’t recognize her. Fortunately, former NCAA head coach Muffet McGraw was kind enough to look past my transgression.

My inability to know who I was talking to is definitely on me, but my guess is that among most casual sports fans I wouldn’t have been alone at that time in lacking knowledge about women’s NCAA basketball.

That has all changed. Women’s college basketball is not just on the map for casual fans, it’s a star on the map – thanks at least, in large part, to Iowa star Caitlin Clark.

Let’s first talk about television ratings. Over 12 million people watched Clark’s Hawkeyes defeat Angel Reese’s LSU on Monday night, according to ESPN. In today’s media environment, the idea that over 12 million would watch a cable program that isn’t the NFL is unheard of.

You examine the cable ratings on an average night, and the top programs are usually pulling in well less than five million.

If it were a network prime time broadcast, Monday’s game would have been a top 45 show in 2023.

In fact, most big sports events don’t pull in over 12 million. The Iowa-LSU game had more viewers than the average MLB World Series, NBA Final or Stanley Cup game last season.

Clark battles with Reese during the Elite Eight matchup.

I want you to look at that prior sentence again and fully digest it. Women’s college basketball is beating America’s pastime. If that doesn’t say the sport has arrived in the American psyche, I don’t know what does.

Not surprisingly, the viewership for the Iowa-LSU game