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Caitlin Clark can claim another record—the most-watched women’s college basketball game in history.
The University of Iowa’s 94-87 victory over Louisiana State University in the Elite Eight of the women’s NCAA Tournament on Monday night averaged 12.3 million viewers on ESPN, according to Nielsen. That makes it one of the most-viewed games in any sport other than NFL football over the past year.
Iowa-LSU outdrew all but one of the five games in last year’s NBA Finals, along with the clinching game of last year’s World Series (11.48 million).
Clark, who is expected to be drafted No. 1 by the Indiana Fever in the WNBA Draft on April 15, scored 41 points as her Hawkeyes avenged last year’s loss to the Tigers in the national championship game.
The viewership surpassed the 11.84 million who watched the 1983 NCAA championship game between Southern California and Louisiana Tech. LSU coach Kim Mulkey played for Louisiana Tech and was matched up against USC great Cheryl Miller—sister of former Indiana Pacers great Reggie Miller—in that game, which the Trojans won 64-58.
It was also the most-watched men’s or women’s college basketball game ever on ESPN, more than doubling the prior largest audience.
According to ESPN, the 2002 women’s national championship game between UConn and Oklahoma had the old mark at 5.68 million. ESPN’s most-watched men’s game was the 2008 regular-season matchup between Duke and North Carolina, which drew 5.61 million.
Only one men’s NCAA Tournament game this year had bigger viewership: North Carolina State’s win over Duke on Sunday in the men’s Elite Eight on CBS averaged 15.1 million.
According to Sports Media Watch, it was the most-viewed basketball game on ESPN since Game 7 of the 2018 Eastern Conference finals, when the Cleveland Cavaliers’ victory over the Boston Celtics averaged 13.6 million.
UConn’s 80-73 win over Southern California, which was on after the Iowa game, was the second-most watched college game in ESPN history at 6.7 million. ABC had both regional finals on Sunday, with South Carolina averaging 3.1 million in its win over Oregon State and North Carolina State drawing 2.5 million against Texas.
Clark’s four March Madness games on ESPN and ABC have averaged 6.83 million. Iowa will face UConn in Friday’s second national semifinal on ESPN. The winner will face either South Carolina or North Carolina State on ABC on Sunday.
The Hawkeyes’ 89-68 win over Colorado in Saturday’s regional semifinal averaged 6.9 million viewers on ABC.
Iowa’s last five televised games have surpassed 3 million viewers, including the last three that have drawn at least 4.9 million.
The 60 women’s tournament games are averaging 1.5 million, a 127% increase over last year.
LSU’s victory over UCLA on Saturday, which preceded the Iowa game, averaged 3.8 million, the second most-watched Sweet 16 game on record.
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Over 12 million viewers watched the Iowa / LSU game.
Excellent ratings.
Why does the media forget about the teammates that get these “stars” to where they are? So frustrating to hear, both mens and womens sports. They are team sports. When one player is scoring all of the points, I think they are more selfish than anything. We wouldn’t know if someone has skills because they are never passed the ball. It’s all about money and stats these days. Sad.
Sorry David. Though Caitlin Clark leads the nation in scoring, she also leads the nation in assists. She is every bit as good passing the ball as she is shooting it. She is definitely a TEAM player.
Well, David G, as I oft say if one only watches on television news or reads on newspaper, it is likely one is not getting the full story.
My points:
1. Clark averages 32 points per game not because she is the lone player, but because she shoots 46 percent of all her two and 3-pt attempts.
2. She averages 9 assists per game. That translates to somewhere between 18-27 points per game that others on the Iowa score..
That means as a “team player”, Clark directly contributes to somewhere between 43-64 percent of the teams 92 points per game average.
And when it comes to TEAM: Clark is the team leader in three other categories (besides scoring): Rebounds–7.3; Assists–9.0; Steals–1.8. And her Assist to Turnover ratio is nearly 2-1.
Watch Iowa play. Watch Clark play. Nothing sad about it. In fact, she is a great role model for women specifically, and sports players and fans generally.
Show me media coverage for #2 and #3 on the team.
David G, while I don’t mean to be mean, commenting on subject matter on which one is not informed is not an issue with you alone. It is contagious in this past and current era of making decisions based on misinformation.
It is tantamount to the old expression: one is advised: “Don’t poop in your mess kit.” (As it is in the mess kit from which one eats.)