STEELE SPORTS
It’s not too often that a sporting event drives me to the edge of tears, but in all honesty, this year’s NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship game got the best of me.
After watching the University of Iowa face off against Louisiana State University (LSU) in a game that LSU would go on to win 102-85, I could not help but sit glued to my TV.
I’ve watched the NCAA women’s tournament multiple times over the course of the last few years, but this year’s event had a different feel to it.
Stars like Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and LSU’s Angel Reese made the tournament a must-watch as their insane stat lines drew viewers in from all around the world.
According to ESPN, the Hawkeyes’ game against the University of South Carolina drew in 5.5 million viewers, the most viewed semifinal on record for the platform.
Simply put, viewers have known that this tournament is a special one, and I believe it will truly pay dividends for women’s sports down the road.
A longtime dispute in the sporting world has been the pay differences between men's and women's professional athletes in the sport of basketball.
The driving factor for men to be paid more has always been that there is a bigger audience and therefore a greater market.
Looking back at the viewer numbers from this past week’s women’s tournament and analyzing the fact that these athletes are still technically amateurs is an exciting prospect for women’s sports as a whole.
As is the case for any sport, the more that media outlets continuously promote the game, the more it will grow – thus earning the athletes more money down the line.
There has never been a better time to grow women’s sports than the present.
With athletes like Candace Parker, Breanna Stewart, and Sabrina Ionescu dominating the WNBA and more surefire superstars in Clark and Reese set to join them down the road, the potential for the league has possibly never been higher.
We need to get these deserving athletes a bigger platform to promote the game, and it is about time the media noticed the potential of women’s sports.
We cannot expect women’s sports to grow if we do not use the proper resources to help promote its growth.