If it wasn’t clear over the last few months that Women’s Basketball was on the rise, the Elite Eight game between the Iowa Hawkeyes and LSU Tigers confirmed it.
The rematch of last year’s NCAA Championship game averaged a record-breaking 12.3 million viewers, ESPN announced on Tuesday, April 2.
It was obvious from the hype surrounding this game that it was going to attract a lot of viewers, but it wasn’t a given that it was going to break the all-time record. Last year’s championship game didn’t breach 10 million, and that game aired on ABC while this year’s game was only the semi semi-finals and aired only on ESPN, which is a lot accessible than its free sister network at ABC.
12.3 million viewers for the Iowa-LSU Elite Eight game is a the most viewers on record for a women’s basketball game. The feat’s even more impressive because it was purely on ESPN and didn’t get the boost from airing on ABC.
Their championship game last year had nearly 10…
— Colin Salao (@colincsalao) April 2, 2024
But the storylines over the course of the season built to this moment. Iowa’s Caitlin Clark broke records on the court all season long, and that translated to regular season viewership numbers that were not seen in the women’s game in decades.
Related: Men’s and Women’s March Madness are hitting major milestones
On the other side, LSU’s national championship run came with a ton of controversy surrounding the team. Their team’s leader, Angel Reese, has faced a ton of attacks and criticisms, some that stem from her fiery nature, but many due to her race and gender.
“I just try to stay strong… I’ve been attacked so many times. Death threats, I’ve been sexualized, I’ve been threatened… I’m still human. All this has happened since I won the national championship & I haven’t been happy since then.”
– Angel Reesepic.twitter.com/fIvQWtefnx
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) April 2, 2024
LSU head coach Kim Mulkey has always been a subject of controversy as well. She’s one of the most successful coaches in the history of the sport, but has been criticized for her treatment of LGBTQ+ players like Brittney Griner.
In the early parts of the tournament, she spoke out about an unpublished Washington Post story that she believed was going to defame her. Her statements ultimately led to more eyeballs focused on her and the story.
The team’s on court play has also been criticized. After winning the National Championship last year, they added Louisville star Hailey Van Lith and DePaul star Aneesah Morrow to a cast that had Reese and Flau’jae Johnson. The team was expected to dominate, but lost to the undefeated University of South Carolina in the SEC Championship and only received a third-seed for the NCAA tournament.
All these storylines came together for this rematch — and it delivered with a record number of fans tuning in to watch Women’s basketball.
Related: Ice Cube makes compelling case for Caitlin Clark to join the BIG3
How does this viewership number compare to the landscape of sports?
The Iowa-LSU game’s record unseated the 1983 National Championship game that previously held the record with 11.86 million viewers, according to Sports Media Watch. That game was the first of two consecutive National Championships for the University of Southern California Trojans led by Basketball Hall of Famer Cheryl Miller.
That game was also just the second national championship in the history of NCAA women’s basketball.
Miller’s final college game was the only other game to have more viewers than Clark and Reese’s first match in last year’s championship. That came in the 1986 national title game, but Miller and the Trojans would fall short of a third championship to Texas.
Cheryl Miller (center) after leading USC to the 1984 NCAA Championship in a win over Tennessee.
Peter Read Miller/Getty Images
While Monday’s Elite Eight game still fell short of the numbers that the Men’s division get in their national title game, it did keep in pace with the NBA. More viewers saw Iowa beat LSU than four of the five games of the 2023 NBA Finals between the Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat. Only the decisive fifth game had more viewers (13.08 million).
In comparison to other sports, Iowa vs LSU had more viewers than any of the five World Series games from last year. That series averaged about 9 million viewers and was the least-watched World Series of all-time.
Related: Women’s basketball is gaining ground, but is March Madness ready to rival the men’s game?
