Posted on 04/03/2024 10:00:09 AM PDT by Kazan
Monday night’s women’s basketball game between Iowa and LSU was the most watched women’s basketball game ever.
Monday night's rematch between @IowaWBB & @LSUwbkb scores as the MOST-WATCHED WOMEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL GAME ON RECORD
12.3M viewers
Most-watched college basketball game EVER on ESPN platforms
More details to come…#NCAAWBB | #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/55FU8C1NwD
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) April 2, 2024
How big of a night was it?
At 12.3 million viewers, last night's Iowa-LSU game had more viewers than:
• Any women's CBB game ever
• The 2023 NBA Finals
• The 2023 World Series
• The 2023 Orange Bowl
• The 2023 Big Ten Championship
• The 2023 Cotton Bowl
• The 2023 Pac-12 Championship
• The 2023 Big-12 Championship
• The 2023 ACC Championship
• The 2023 Peach Bowl
• Thursday Night Football
• Every 2023 college football regular season game except Ohio State vs. Michigan
— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) April 2, 2024
USA Today reports:
Monday night’s Elite Eight matchup between Iowa and LSU was watched by 12.3 million viewers, according to ESPN, which makes it the most-viewed women’s college basketball game on record and the most-watched college basketball game ever on ESPN platforms.
Iowa prevailed 94-87 in the national title game rematch to deny LSU a chance at a second consecutive championship.
LSU’s 102-85 victory over the Hawkeyes last year set the previous record, averaging 9.9 million viewers and peaking at 12.6 million viewers. That game was broadcast by ABC. Monday’s aired on ESPN.
Monday’s game peaked at 16.1 million viewers, per ESPN.
ESPN said the contest drew the second-highest audience for any basketball game on the network since 2012, trailing only Game 7 of the 2018 Eastern Conference finals between LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics, which Sports Media Watch says drew 13.6 million.
What a game it was as Caitlin Clark broke more records and carried Iowa to a victory.
And the women’s Final 4 tickets are outpricing the men’s tickets by almost double!
Minimum ticket price for men: $571
Minimum ticket price for women: $970
At this very moment:
The minimum ticket price on StubHub to get into the Men’s Final Four: $571
The minimum ticket price on StubHub to get into the Women’s Final Four: $970 pic.twitter.com/2hZxc58ze9
— John Fanta (@John_Fanta) April 2, 2024
Great White Hope factor
The NBA is boring. They sprint across the court holding the ball.
Whatever game they are playing is not basketball.
I didn’t see it but I heard Clark dominated.
That’s part of it but it just watching amazing talent is the draw, black or white. Jordan elevated the NBA quite a bit.
UConn’s Rebecca Lobo was a “Great White Hope” of her era, as was her 5’6” teammate Jennifer Rizzati. That team went undefeated.
They don't care. They just want to get paid. I stopped being a fan after Jordan Era. I did watch Kobe some. I didn't like the guy (due to his personal life) but I can respect his passion for the game.
Don't give them our money. They don't deserve our dollars. I'm lukewarm on other leagues now.
Caught the last 10 minutes of the game. Was pretty good.
I watched it off and on. First time I ever watched girl hoops. Seemed weird that the old white lady coaching LSU had her breasts front and center. Oof.
I think this the game where the LSU team went and stayed in the locker room instead of standing for the National Anthem?
Yes, the LSU team refused to take the court for the national anthem.
The problem with the NBA ... and the NFL ... and the WNBA ... is the thug element. There was a time, back when the colleges still had standards (or at least pretended to), that the colleges kept most of the trash out of the professional game. But the colleges sold out long ago. TV and gambling interests now own sports, and they don’t care. Neither, apparently, do most viewers, although at least a few viewers are starting to rebel. Which is a good thing.
Women’s sports are relatively less infested with the thug element than men’s sports, although it is creeping in. In women’s sports, the situation is compounded by militant rainbow warriors. The truth is, nobody cares that lesbians play sports and are probably statistically overrepresented in women’s sports, but fans resent sports being turned into platforms for hateful people’s ranting. The USWNT was America’s team until Megan Rapinoe poisoned the well; now that Rapinoe has retired, it will take a generation to recover — and it will be hard because international women’s soccer continues to improve and the USWNT won’t be as dominant as it used to be. It’s not that the U.S. is slipping; the rest of the world is catching up.
Caitlin Clark is a remarkable player, and she is totally classy. She is the model of what all top tier athletes should be doing. The smart ones have always done this, regardless of race and sexual preference. The really stupid ones, by and large, didn’t used to get through college. But that screen is long gone, and the gambling and tv interests are perfectly happy with vulgar, stupid and violent people.
Clark is not only a fine shooter she has an outstanding passing game with over 1000 career assists. In fact Iowa moves the ball well and the players seem to be unselfish in moving to the open player for a shot. Their passing game especially with players cutting to the basket keeps a little of the pressure off clark and the entire team in the game. Against LSU I think 3 of them scored over 20, including clark of course.
When she is interviewed after, she speaks in complete sentences and of course comments about how well the team in toto plays.
South Carolina is the cream of the crop again this year. But their center is a thug. The coach must be an excellent recruiter based on he record the last 4 years and now they are touting their recruitment of a great freshman class for next year.
here is what the coach of LSUmsaid. We aways hit the locker room with 12 minutes to go. We had no indication when the anthem would be played. After warm ups i need to settle the team a little in the locker room. We never intended an insult or did anything on purpose to avoid the anthem.
My feeling is one of the asst coaches should have known when the anthem would be played, if you care about it.
she’s flashy and a character and good for the game. And she gives the ref’s hell.
UCONN men and women in the final fours.
At 5'9" I can appreciate a below-the-rim type of game.
Caitlyn is as much of a showman as she is a talented player.
Paige is just a slight step below Clark (maybe 1A), but she is much a smoother player - she's like watching a big cat on the prowl, quiet but just as deadly.
Clark’s range on her 3-point shots is only matched by Steph Curry and she’s a female version of Magic Johnson when it comes to passing the ball.
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