The Women’s NCAA Tournament loses money under its current broadcast deal, but that is because it is undervalued according to a Sportico study. The tournament is currently included in a television package featuring all NCAA championship events, excluding men’s basketball, that the organization sold to ESPN.
There has been a string of good news for women’s college basketball in recent years. This year’s tournament alone has seen viewership highs and sold-out ad time. The national championship game is set to air on ABC, marking the first time since 1995 the event has been on network television.
All of that momentum has the NCAA rethinking its television structure for the Women’s Basketball Tournament.
“Somebody’s watching women’s basketball,” legendary South Carolina coach Dawn Staley told the AP. “Somebody feels like we’re in high demand, and obviously the decision-makers that put us on now realize that they’ve got to keep putting us on.”
Endeavor has been hired by the NCAA to explore selling the tournament as its own television product instead of including it in that package ESPN currently holds for other NCAA championship events. The organization is expected to make a decision on how to proceed in the fall.
Not only are ratings rising. Attendance revenue for the Women’s NCAA Tournament is growing too as women’s sports see their popularity surge in the US.
“It’s an exciting time. Year over year, we continue to demonstrate the value that women’s basketball brings to that space,” Lynn Holzman, the NCAA vice president of women’s basketball, said. “It’ll be exciting to see what the results are of this for the sport itself, but also for the NCAA more broadly in our championships.”
