The NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball National Championship Game between the Iowa Hawkeyes and South Carolina Gamecocks averaged 18.7 million viewers on ABC and ESPN, establishing a new viewership record for women’s college basketball. Additionally, the game accounted for the most-watched basketball matchup – women’s or men’s, college or pro – since 2019 and peaked at 24 million viewers, according to data from Nielsen Fast Nationals. On Tuesday’s edition of The Ken Carman Show with Anthony Lima, the show began one of its early segments discussing the significance of the viewership milestone and the interest surrounding women’s college basketball throughout the season.
Carman, who used to call play-by-play of games, explained that he had not been this locked into women’s college basketball games ever throughout his life. While he has awareness regarding various different sports as a morning show co-host of 92.3 The Fan, he evinced that some of his predilections are beginning to change. In fact, he explained that watching men’s college basketball this year felt like a chore, only deeming Akron and Ohio State as appointment viewing for various reasons.
“I do sit there and think – I go, ‘If I didn’t watch these games; if I didn’t watch the tournament games [or] if I didn’t watch Ohio State, would anybody really care?,’” Carman explained. “Would anybody go, ‘Ken, you’re not doing your job?’ I want to know.”
Co-host Anthony Lima replied that the program is broadcasting in a locale that differs from areas within the Big East Conference or in the Carolinas where college basketball is heavily scrutinized and consistently discussed. Furthermore, he reminded Carman of the time they listened to a morning radio show in Indianapolis the day after an Indianapolis Colts game and that the beginning of the show pertained to college basketball.
“This is still mostly football, and college football is still very big here obviously, and when Ohio State basketball [is] humming, it goes,” Lima said. “When Cleveland State is a great story or Kent State is a great story or Akron is a great story, that does happen, but that’s a sliver of time.”
When the Cleveland Browns season ends, Carman does not look forward to the times where the team is conducting a coaching search. Although there is plenty of discussion surrounding the Browns in the offseason on 92.3 The Fan, the station discusses several other topics including the Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Guardians and local college sports. Carman is generally able to extrapolate storylines within the larger context of a given sport and discuss it on the radio program, but there was a stark dichotomy in that mission this year pertaining to college basketball.
“I sat and watched and [turned] on Saturday ESPN basketball,” Carman said. “I did not want to do it this year – I hated doing it this year and because I’m bored to tears – I had no story. Caitlin Clark; Angel Reese; Dawn Staley. Stories – it being in Cleveland, stories just falling out of the sky right into your laps.”
Lima was curious to discover why Carman was feeling this way when ratings for both the women’s and men’s NCAA tournament games increased year-over-year. In response, Carman felt that gambling could be a reason behind the rise, especially since many sports fans fill out brackets ahead of tournament play. Lima, however, shared that it is difficult to distinguish which sports are receiving ratings windfalls because of this activity. As Clark and Reese prepare to join the WNBA though, Carman knows that he will be watching the action.
“Say what you will – that WNBA Draft is on [April 15],” Carman outlined. “I don’t know when the season starts. I’m going to find out because I’m going to see Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese play, I can guaran-damn-tee you that.”
