CLEVELAND โ Women's college basketball continues to capture the nation's attention at an unprecedented rate, and the metrics prove it.
Friday night's Final Four game between Iowa and Connecticut was the most-watched basketball game ever broadcast on ESPN. An average of 14.2 million viewers tuned in, and the broadcast reached 17 million viewers at its peak. Led by star guard Caitlin Clark, Iowa State defeated U-Conn. 71-69 to advance to the national championship game for the second straight year. The previous record for an ESPN basketball broadcast was 13.51 million viewers for Game 7 of the 2018 NBA Eastern Conference Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics.
“I think the biggest thing is we had a lot of great players that came before us and laid a really solid foundation for our game,” Clark said Friday before the latest record was set. “As a competitor and being involved in this moment, it's hard to sort out your feelings.”
The game's popularity skyrocketed, and Clark played a key role. This season, she surpassed Pete Maravich's 3,667 points to become the NCAA Division I all-time leading scorer for men and women. Last fall, Iowa State hosted an exhibition game at Kinnick Stadium, where the Hawkeyes play football, and 55,646 people watched. Iowa State's road games have sold out multiple times throughout the season, and Saturday's public practice session at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse was also sold out.