1 month ago
20
Briefing|The Rise of Women’s Basketball
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/16/briefing/womens-basketball.html
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.
Attend, or even just watch, a women’s sports game these days and you’ll see the phrase splashed across the front of fans’ black T-shirts: “Everyone watches women’s sports.”
At last year’s N.C.A.A. women’s basketball tournament, that idea seemed truer than ever. For the first time since the inception of the N.C.A.A. women’s championship in 1982, the women’s final drew more viewers than the men’s — 18.9 million compared with 14.8.
A chart shows N.C.A.A. basketball championship viewers from 1995 to 2024, split by men's and women's finals. In 2024, the women's finals garnered 18.9 million viewers, while the men's finals had 14.8 million viewers.
20
2024 finals
15
10
5
1995
2000
2005
2010
2015
2020
20
2024 finals
15
10
5
1995
2000
2005
2010
2015
2020
For the women, it was a dramatic jump from the year before, when the final drew almost 10 million viewers. For the men, it continued a downward trend: Viewership was roughly half what it was in 2015, according to Nielsen.
The 2023 and 2024 finals featured Caitlin Clark, whose four years with the Iowa Hawkeyes helped push the sport to new highs. But Clark did not do it alone: Women’s basketball had been growing before her arrival.
A parade of superstars
Men’s basketball had a head start.
The N.C.A.A. was created in 1906, but it did not have leagues for all women’s sports until after the 1972 passage of Title IX, a law that requires equal treatment for all students in school sports. Over those first seven decades, the men received more investment and also more airtime, which gave them greater visibility.
