Women’s sports are on the rise, and it’s not just a claim but something proven this year. In May, the WNBA recorded its highest viewership in the last two decades, even filling arenas up to 94%. While there are numerous stars to thank for it, the major credit for this growth goes to the newest rookies in the WNBA, such as Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese. But how can rookies be responsible for such a change? It’s because of their impact on the sport in college. NCAA basketball has been at the forefront of women’s sports for a long time now. Despite the NCAA being “abysmally bad” at business, as per Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, women’s basketball has exploded.

Ohanian was a guest on the latest episode of Best of Both Worlds With Flau’jae Jackson podcast. “It’s nuts,” replied Ohanian when Jackson emphasized the journey to achieve “higher ratings than the men is insane.” For context, the 2024 NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship Game tickets were sold at $390, while the Men’s championship game, on the other hand, was $192. Furthermore, networks reported a 60% increase in viewership of women’s NCAA basketball in the 2023-24 season, as per Forbes.

Well, women’s collegiate basketball has been underestimated for a while now. “When you’re that abysmally bad in business, usually there are consequences,” Alexis Ohanian added on the podcast. According to him, the attention collegiate sports are getting translates to revenue now. But four years ago, the same collegiate women stars “weren’t even getting a weight room to train in… [or] even get the branding because they thought it was too precious and belonged to the men.”

Sure enough, the narrative around this has changed as women are now ahead of men’s collegiate basketball in terms of viewership and revenue. And the credit for this success isn’t just limited to athletes. “NIL opened up the door because in this country, you might have feelings, but in the face of capitalism, that sort of trumps everything,” he added.

The Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) policy was introduced in the summer of 2021. After long debates, it finally opened up opportunities for student-athletes to sign sponsors, grow their fan base, and get paid for it. Well, the NIL policy and collegiate viewership increase did not happen all of a sudden.

Women’s basketball has been on the rise for a while

Generally, year-to-year ratings are influenced by the teams and players participating. According to Nielsen and Sports Media Watch, though, the shift in popularity has been building for years. It all started way back in the late 2010s and gradually picked up speed this decade. In 2015-16, the Men’s championship game drew over 23 million viewers.

At that time, it was nearly eight times that of the Women’s final, which averaged around 3 million. But this changed over the next three years. The TV audience for women’s sports grew by 23%, averaging 3.7 million. Over the following two years, something incredible happened to women’s collegiate basketball.

Despite the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA Basketball Championships due to COVID-19, women’s sports continued to grow rapidly, increasing viewership by 27%. Well, the 2023-24 season took the women’s game to another level. Caitlin Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes is responsible for some of the most watched games in college basketball history and the same is translating to the WNBA as well.

“I think what is so compelling right now is, you have a league that has, overnight, has become so much more culturally relevant, simply because of a draft class… In terms of men’s sports, I’ve never seen that,” Alexis Ohanian mentioned on the podcast. Is this a concern for the men’s college basketball? What do you think?

Stay tuned for more such updates and join us for the exciting pilot episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with NCAA Star Asia Avinger.