If you hear muffled sobs coming from a man’s cave, or incomprehensible murmurs by a man who is usually exhaling misogyny, give some thoughts and prayers.
Tuesday was a tough day for “Nobody Cares About Women’s Sports!” crowd.
Within an hour, the women’s college basketball title match was announced Aired on ABC And the NWSL Championship is Aired in prime time on CBS. That is correct. Featuring her two of the biggest events in women’s sport nationally, with no cable or streaming subscription required.
“This is a historic announcement for our league and the sport,” said NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman.
And the long-awaited one. Not out of charity or pity, but because a female athlete earned it.
Advocates have long argued that there is a market in women’s sport, contrary to what naysayers would have you believe. .
Evaluations over the last few years prove this to be true.
The National Championship, featuring South Carolina and UConn, was ESPN’s most-watched college basketball game since 2008. 4.85 million viewers, an 18% increase over the 2021 championship game and a 30% increase from 2019.
The Women’s College World Series averaged 1.1 million viewers, surpassing 1 million viewers for the third consecutive year. The average number of viewers for the championship series is her 1.6 million. That’s after the women’s college World Series and soccer’s national championship, the College Cup, set viewership records last season.
The WNBA announced playoff ratings so far are up 39% from last year. Sunday’s game between the Dallas Wings and the Connecticut Sun is her most-watched playoff game in 15 years.
This is based on a 16% increase in league viewership across all networks during the regular season and a 49% increase last year. The regular season finale between the Seattle Storm and the Las Vegas Aces, a sneak peek into his one matchup in the playoff semifinals, was the most-watched WNBA game in 14 years and peak viewership. reached his 1.1 million.
The NWSL’s national TV games are rare — that’s expected to change when the league’s three-year deal expires next year — but the league has averaged more than 400,000 viewers across four games on CBS so far this season. This includes 456,000 in preseason games between both expansion teams San Diego Wave and Angel City FC.
Last year’s NWSL title game drew 525,000 viewers despite starting at noon in the East.
Oh, and Fox announced last week that its main network will air a friendly against England on October 7. With 17 million viewers following the trio of lionesses’ victory over Germany in the European Championship final, this will be the first of its kind this year. It became the most-watched TV show in the UK.
“I was told, ‘Oh, I won’t rate it, Carol.’ Carol Stiff, who oversaw women’s sports programming on ESPN before her retirement last summer, told USA TODAY Sports earlier this year.
“I keep using the term, ‘If you make it, they’ll come,'” Stiff said.
The men who are now dedicated to ruining women’s sports, it’s mostly just men, and even if viewership improves, women’s sports viewers don’t compare to men’s sports viewers. And that’s mostly true.
But it’s also like bragging about winning the 100m by 60m.
Title IX celebrated its 50th anniversary earlier this summer, and ten years after the landmark legislation was passed, the NCAA hosted its first women’s basketball tournament. The WNBA is her 26th season and the NWSL is her 10th season. Of course, it won’t be where the NFL, NBA and NCAA men’s tournaments have been for over 75 years.
Those leagues, too, weren’t where they are now early on. It wasn’t until the NFL merger that every team had every game televised. It was not until 1968 that the network showed serious interest in broadcasting his NCAA men’s tournament. NBA games were still shown on tape delay well into the 1980s.
The potential in women’s sport is immense, and Tuesday’s announcement reflects that. Even if someone said otherwise, it’s their reflection.
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