Interest in NCAA women’s basketball jumps to new heights

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By Elyse Perry

Over the past few years, interest in NCAA women’s basketball has increased seemingly exponentially.  

Last year, the women’s championship game between Iowa and LSU had almost 10 million viewers, which showed a 103% increase from the previous year.

At IU, this increase is just as evident. This season, average home game attendance is over 10,000. That’s up from an average attendance of only 3,600 in the 2018-19 season five years ago. 

IU Athletic Director Scott Dolson credits much of the team’s newfound attention to Head Coach Teri Moren. He said that Moren has created a consistent and competitive team that has garnered viewership through its skill.

“I’d say here at IU, I think our growth is directly attributed to Coach Moran and her staff, and then ultimately the players who make it all happen,” Dolson said. “Just seeing the fan support, that has been unbelievable, and it just has grown throughout the past  five or six years, particularly. It has just been unbelievable and so much fun to watch.”

IU women’s basketball has sold out two home games in program history. The first happened last year when over 17,000 fans packed into Assembly Hall to watch IU play Purdue. The second sell-out was a couple weeks ago when IU played Iowa. Tickets for the IU-Iowa game sold for an average of $353 according to the Herald Times.

The increasing number of fans attending games at IU led the athletic department to create a season ticket section and to charge for parking outside of the stadium. Scott Dolson said that the athletic department is implementing these changes to try and grow with the program.

“Last season, the growth of the attendance at every game really came about sort of a little more quickly…, during the season. We met towards the back end of the season, looking towards this season to try to figure out what we can do to make the best fan experience possible,” Dolson said. 

According to Dolson, the ideas to charge for parking and to assign season ticket sections were not instated to make money. Despite that, he said that he hopes the women’s team can one day earn as much revenue as the men’s team.

If you had told me 10 years ago that we potentially could average 10,000 fans per women’s game for a season…, if you told me that 10 years ago, I would have never believed it,” Dolson said. “So, if you say at some point, can the women’s programs across the country, but specifically here at IU, have the same  revenue stream as the men, or have the same television ratings, I believe it for sure. I think that’s the path we’re on.”

Regardless of the money earned by the program, Dolson is proud of the progress they’ve made. He says that they are a model for other teams around campus. 

“I’m just really, really proud and happy, and there’s a lot of people that put a lot of work into it. It’s great to see that work provides great results,” Dolson said. “Our women’s basketball team as a program, is a model for some of our other programs to really try to emulate what they’ve done… to build their program.”

On February 22, Iowa and Indiana fans made the trip to watch IU women’s second-ever sold-out home game where Indiana beat Iowa 86-69. The Indiana-Iowa game matched up two of the top three teams in the Big Ten conference. Just looking at Indiana’s Mackenzie Holmes and Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, there were multiple record holders on the court.

Mackenzie Holmes holds the IU women’s record for scoring. 

Caitlin Clark, who just announced her entry into the 2024 WNBA draft, is the all-time leading scorer in Division 1 basketball. Out of 32 regular season games Clark played in, home and away, 30 were sold out. 

Danielle Patterson, former IU player and current grad assistant at St. John’s in NYC, says that the overall skill level of the players in women’s college basketball is a driving factor of the increased viewership.

“I think girls are now doing things that they haven’t done before. I think the skill sets and the positions are changing. I think you’re starting to have, like, positionless basketball.” Patterson said. “Also, you have, you know, this rising media attention. So before, when we weren’t getting as much attention, how would you know what the product was?”

Patterson started her college career playing at Notre Dame.  She transferred to IU her junior year. Then, she transferred to St. John’s in 2021 to finish her final two years of eligibility. She thinks that social media and NIL deals, which allow players to make money off their name, image, and likeness, have also played a huge role in the advancement of women’s basketball.

“I started playing when I was five. So when I was coming through, like, the [Amateur Athletic Union] before you get to college, social media was playing somewhat of a part. I feel like it’s playing an even bigger part now than what it ever has,” Patterson said. “Also now with NIL,… now kids are coming through and they’re getting like multi-million dollar deals to just buy this drink company or this food company. So I think that’s been a big turnaround too for women’s basketball.”

Over 15% of all NIL deals go to women’s college basketball players. LSU’s Angel Reese has been making headlines for receiving the most NIL deals of any college basketball player, across men and women. 

Regardless of the reason for the viewership spike, Patterson says it impacts the energy and performance of the players.

“I think you just made it more fun. I mean there’s the obvious thing of like would you want to be playing in an arena with, you know, 600, 700 people or do you want to be playing in a packed out arena with, you know, 17,000 fans or 18,000 fans,” Patterson said. “Like how could you not want to put on the best show that you possibly can? And that, I mean, that speaks volumes on both sides that you’re giving your all as a player and people are giving up their time to come and support you.”

The increased viewership of women’s college basketball is clear when looking at past championship games. In 2014, Notre Dame played UConn in the NC-doubleA championship game with around 3 million viewers. The game was one of the most watched of all time. Now, less than ten years later, the 2023 NCAA championship game between LSU and Iowa garnered almost 10 million viewers.

Fans credit the attention growth in the league to the players’ and coaches’ attitudes. 

Lori Bellinger came to the Indiana-Iowa game with four generations of family members. She said that the family loves coming to the games because of the electric atmosphere. 

“[We’re excited for] just really being here, feeling the electricity in here, seeing the smiles on everybody’s faces,” Bellinger said. “IU Women’s Basketball is a great program and a great experience.”

Cassidy Harris, a childhood friend of #22 Chloe Moore-McNeil, also attended the Indiana-Iowa  game on the 22nd. At the game, she said she loves watching the team because of the way they work together.

“I think that they have great girls on their team and just being able to watch them all go out and play as a team together. It’s really an awesome thing to get to experience,” Harris said.

The IU women’s basketball team will be playing in the Big Ten tournament starting this Wednesday, March 6. This year’s tournament is the first ever to be completely sold out.

They will also play in the NCAA tournament starting on March 20. With the skill in the game this year, it is impossible to guess who will come out with the trophy.