Nationwide growth for women's basketball making waves for Colorado Buffaloes
Women's basketball has become more popular than ever and one of the main reasons is because of Iowa Hawkeyes superstar Caitlin Clark.
Clark has been grabbing headlines and snatching ankles on the court. And the excitement surrounding Clark is helping to set attendance records across women's basketball. According to the NCAA, the total attendance record for Division I women's basketball was broken in the 2022-23 season at 8,784,401, which surpassed the previous record by more than 150,000. Also, a tournament-record 357,542 fans attended, which was highlighted by a sellout crowd of 19,482 at the championship game between Iowa and LSU.
Also, according to CBS Sports, the 2024 Big Ten Championship Game between the Iowa Hawkeyes and Nebraska Cornhuskers was the most-watched women's basketball game in 25 years, averaging more than three million viewers. In overtime, 4.45 million viewers were making it the most-watched women's conference tournament game of all time.
All the Power Five Conferences also reached new highs in fans watching their games and in ticket sales. The Colorado Buffaloes have seen an increase in ticket sales from 1,571 fans a game last year to 5,212 fans a game this season.
"It's been great for a long time," said Colorado Buffaloes women's basketball head coach JR Payne. "It's just that it's finally garnering national attention from not just media, but just everyday people are watching and saying 'wow this is great.' It's entertaining, it's remarkable to see great basketball night in and night out."
As the NCAA Tournament gets underway, the numbers are expected to grow even higher and the Buffaloes players not only feel the impact on the court but also know it will have an ever-greater impact for the next generation of hoopers.
"You have multiple teams that are selling out their stadiums consistently or having 8,9, 10,000 people consistently come and I'm just really excited to see what the future may hold," said Maddie Nolan.
"To see little girls just be a joy to get an autograph Quay Miller, or Jaylyn Sherrod, or Frida (Foreman), or Kindyll Wetta, like that brings joy to me that our players give back to the community and all the little eyes that are on them it's so awesome to see," said Shelly Sheetz.
