This is a special edition of my old Sports on the Air column:
ESPN officials must have breathed a huge sigh of relief Monday night when superstar Caitlin Clark and Iowa were able to overcome a gritty West Virginia team – with the help of some questionable calls – and advance to this weekend’s Sweet 16 of the women’s NCAA Tournament.
A look at the local ratings for the women’s tournament illustrates just how dependent on Clark the surge in women’s viewership has become here.
Iowa’s win over West Virginia Monday night was the top-rated women’s game of the first weekend locally with a strong 2.6 rating here on ESPN. The rating was equal to the highest-rated men’s tournament game carried here on cable. Nationally, the Iowa game attracted a record 4.9 million viewers.
A rating point in Western New York is equal to 6,375 households.
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Iowa’s first-round victory over Holy Cross was the second-highest rated game with a 1.4 rating on WKBW-TV (Channel 7), the local ABC affiliate.
You might think that Syracuse, which is coached by former University at Buffalo coach Felisha Legette-Jack and led by former UB star Dyaisha Fair, would be a big draw here.
Its first-round victory over Arizona had a 0.2 rating on ESPN2. It had the misfortune of being played at the same time as the Iowa-Holy Cross game.
Syracuse’s second-round loss to the University of Connecticut Monday night led by Paige Bueckers and played on UConn’s home court had a 1.1 before the Iowa-West Virginia game.
All the other women’s games didn’t hit a 1 rating here and they deserved better. Most averaged a 0.1 to a 0.6 rating. Stanford’s exciting overtime win over Iowa State had a 0.3 rating.
LSU, which defeated Clark and Iowa in the 2023 title game, had the next highest rated games with an 0.7 for a win over Middle Tennessee on Channel 7 and a 0.7 rating for a win over Rice on ESPN.
Besides winning last year’s title, interest in LSU is heightened because it is led by star Angel Reese. Its controversial coach, Kim Mulkey, also stirred up things by saying she would sue if an upcoming story on her by award-winning journalist Kent Babb was defamatory.
Nationally, the tournament reportedly has experienced viewership gains of more than 100% from a year ago overall and 74% higher in games not involving Clark. Of course, it is easier to get high percentage gains when your ratings are low.
According to the Sports Business Journal, the women’s tournament is averaging 812,000 viewers while the men’s tournament is averaging more than 9 million combined over CBS, TNT, TBS and truTV. SPJ added 15 men’s games had higher viewership than the Iowa-West Virginia women's game.
The higher local men’s ratings come with an asterisk. While all but two women’s games were on cable via ESPN or ESPN2, several men’s games were carried by WIVB-TV (Channel 4), a broadcast channel affiliated with CBS.
Several of the games on Channel 4 had ratings of 4 or higher, with North Carolina’s victory over Michigan hitting a 4.7 rating, Marquette win over Colorado a 4.3 rating, Purdue’s win over Utah State a 4.2 rating and Duke’s win over James Madison a 4.1.
The one head-to-head meeting between the women and men on broadcast television came when Gonzaga’s win over Kansas on Channel 4 was carried opposite the Iowa-Holy Cross game on Channel 7 for all but 15 minutes. The score: Gonzaga-Kansas 3.9, Iowa-Holy Cross 1.4.
Several men’s games on cable had higher ratings than the Iowa-Holy Cross game on the local broadcast station.
The top-rated game on TNT was a 2.6 for Clemson over Baylor, the same as the Iowa-West Virginia game. Houston’s exciting overtime victory over Texas &M had a 1.8. The top-rated game on TBS was the 2.5 for Alabama’s exciting win over Grand Canyon. Illinois’s victory over Morehead State was the top-rated game on truTV at 1.1.
ESPN has to be hoping that Clark and Iowa advance to the women’s title game to drive national and local ratings to new heights.
The men’s tournament is in good position to drive ratings since all the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds have advanced to the Sweet 16 starting tonight.
More thoughts on the tournaments:
The behavior of Clark also has led to debates about the attitudes of women players. Clark’s father didn’t seem happy about his daughter's on-court complaints during the Holy Cross game. Defenders of her behavior say it is a sign of her competitive nature and add there is a double standard since many male players have behaved similarly.
Many dads are watching the tournament with their daughters.
My son Benjamin, an intensely competitive high school player, watched the Holy Cross game with his 7-year-old daughter Cami.
“She asked me why Caitlin yells so much,” my son told me.
UConn coach Geno Aureimma has called his star, Bueckers, the best player in the country. After watching both the Iowa and UConn victories Monday, he may have a point.
While Clark has a deeper 3-point range and amazing vision, Bueckers, who has been injured for much of her career, makes fewer mistakes and plays defense.
Before the UConn-Syracuse game, I tweeted it was unfair that the game was played on UConn’s home court. Iowa and several advancing teams played on their home courts. It is a practice that has been done for years primarily to draw crowds. But with interest in the women’s game increasing, it is time to stop the practice. The teams can draw away from their home courts now.
I was pleased to see Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon on ESPN’s “Pardon the Interruption” and Frank Isola on “Around the Horn” also drive home the point Monday it was unfair and time to end the practice.
It was amusing to see New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft express his disappointment in the Apple TV+ series, “The Dynasty: New England Patriots.”
At the NFL meetings, Kraft reportedly told ESPN’s Mike Reiss he “felt bad that there was so much emphasis on the more controversial and, let’s say, ‘challenging’ situations over the last 20 years. I wish they had focused more on our Super Bowl wins, our 21-game win streak.”
The series addressed Deflategate; the risky drafting of tight end and future convicted murderer Aaron Hernandez; the mysterious benching of cornerback Malcolm Butler by coach Bill Belichick that may have cost the Patriots another Super Bowl; Brady’s reliance on trainer Alex Guerrero against Belichick’s wishes; and Spygate involving the filming of opponents’ signals.
As I wrote in my review, some of the most interesting moments often came from Kraft’s honesty about his disagreements with Belichick.
In other words, Kraft should have been disappointed in himself.
Don’t say you haven’t been warned. The NFL has announced that NBC’s streaming service Peacock will be carrying the Sept. 6 game in São Paulo, Brazil, between the Philadelphia Eagles and a team to be determined. Amazon’s Prime Video will carry an NFL wild-card playoff game. Last season, many fans felt blindsided when Peacock carried a wild-card playoff game even though the NFL announced it in May.