The Final Four of March Madness is set for both the Men’s and Women’s divisions — and the results so far show that these tournaments have definitely piqued the interest of fans.
For the Women’s division, the Sweet 16 game between Caitlin Clark’s Iowa and Colorado had 6.87 million viewers on Disney’s (DIS) ABC on March 30. That was the most-watched women’s tournament game for since 1995, according to Sports Media Watch.
Nearly seven million viewers watch Caitlin Clark and Iowa defeat Colorado in the Sweet 16, trailing only last year’s final as the most-watched women’s tournament game since 1995: https://t.co/JtRYDCmIpL
— Sports Media Watch (@paulsen_smw) April 2, 2024
But it’s not just Clark driving in viewers. LSU’s Sweet 16 win over UCLA brought in 3.83 million viewers on ABC, which was higher than the 1.75 million that the game in the same window saw last year — though that was on ESPN.
Related: Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese NIL value tops women’s college basketball
The viewership result of the April 1 highly-anticipated rematch between Iowa and LSU — which saw Clark drop 41 points and 12 assists in a win — will almost surely break records, but that is still unclear.
Women’s Final Four ticket prices skyrocket
Ticket prices are another indicator of the success of the women’s game so far. According to TickPick, the average purchase price for the Women’s Final Four in Rocket Mortgage Arena in Cleveland, Ohio is $532, which is up 82% from last year. And many of these were purchased before the results of last night’s games — which now has Clark facing off against Paige Bueckers and UConn on one side of the bracket.
As of April 2, the “get-in” price — which is the lowest available ticket — is at $582, already $50 more than the average purchase price of the tickets.
These results are not a shocker for the women’s side as it’s coming off its most-watched NCAA Championship game since 1986 with nearly 10 million average viewers.
Clark fueled this boost, and her remarkable play trickled into this season as several of her games breached over 3 million viewers. A women’s basketball game had not had over two million viewers since 2010, according to Sports Media Watch.
The SEC Championship game between the South Carolina Gamecocks and LSU Tigers also breached 2 million viewers, showing that names like Angel Reese and programs like South Carolina are bringing in fans.
While the Men’s side is not experiencing the same level of growth, there are some positive results for the side that was coming off its least-watched championship game of all-time.
Men’s Elite Eight game draws impressive viewership
The Elite Eight game that saw DJ Burns and North Carolina State upset Duke on March 31 averaged 15.14 million viewers on Paramount Global’s (PARA) CBS, the most-watched Elite Eight game since 2019. This game actually had more viewers than last year’s championship game, and was the most-watched basketball game period since the Final Four of 2022 that saw Duke play archrival North Carolina
With top-ranked teams like UConn and Purdue in the mix, the average purchase price for Men’s tickets so far are $521, while the “get-in” price is at $474.
These numbers are lower than the women’s — but the men play in State Farm Stadium in Arizona, with a seating capacity that’s over three times the seating capacity of the women’s game.
The average purchase price of the men’s game so far is up nearly double from the $292 of last year — which was the second lowest average purchase price for a Men’s Final Four in the last decade. But it’s still below the 2022 Final Four which averaged out to $592, but that featured the aforementioned Duke-North Carolina contest.
The Men’s and Women’s Final Four Ticket prices are much higher than last year.
Related: Women’s basketball is gaining ground, but is March Madness ready to rival the men’s game?
