GW Expert on What’s Behind the Explosion of Interest for Women’s Basketball

Selection Sunday is this weekend and collegiate basketball teams are looking to punch their ticket to March Madness. Interest and viewership in women’s college basketball has skyrocketed over the last year, in large part thanks to the stardom and domination by Caitlin Clark, an Iowa Hawkeye’s guard and now the NCAA Division I all-time leading scorer. Last weekend alone, over three million viewers tuned in for Iowa’s win over Nebraska in the Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament on CBS, making it the most-watched women’s basketball game on CBS since 1999.

Meredith Geisler is a visiting assistant professor of sport management at George Washington University School of Business. Prior to her appointment at GW, Geisler was senior vice president of communications for Tandem Sports + Entertainment, a full-service sports and entertainment agency with expertise in athlete management, talent representation, marketing, communications and publicity services. Tandem represents some of the biggest stars in professional sports and broadcasting, including elite NBA and WNBA athletes, broadcasters, coaches, industry executives and sports organizations, like Tamika Catchings and Grant Hill. Prior to helping launch Tandem in 2013, Meredith founded sports PR company Meredith Communications in 2001 and previously held senior roles at Advantage International (now Octagon), Fila USA, Total Sports and eoSports. 

On the growth of interest in women’s basketball, Geisler says: 

“There has been a notable confluence of events to spur a surge for women’s sports in general, and women’s basketball specifically. Excitement for women’s basketball is burgeoning at a time when the men’s game seems to be diminished. Male players are coming and going either as one and dones or transferring. Women players (for the most part) are staying put for 3-4 years. Caitlin Clark is the most recognized name in college basketball, bar none. Never in history has a woman college basketball player been the most recognizable player in the college game. Her games are sellouts, the TV ratings for Caitlin’s games are breaking records. In fact, I read in Sportico “women’s college basketball is drawing more viewers than men’s college games on Fox, according to Michael Mulvihill, president of insight and analytics at Fox Sports.” The Caitlin Clark effect for women’s college basketball mirrors the Taylor Swift effect on the NFL and the Lionel Messi effect on MLS.

Why?

• The players are compelling – Caitlin Clark, JuJu Watkins, Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers, Kamilla Cardoso resonate not only with sports enthusiasts but also with the broader public.
• The coaches are compelling — Dawn Staley, Kim Mulkey, Geno Auriemma, Tara VanDerveer (who passed Duke men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski to become the winningest coach in college basketball history), each have compelling and captivating narratives.
• The storylines surrounding women’s basketball are compelling. The drama during the women’s South Carolina/LSU SEC conference tournament championship game heightened awareness, positive or negative on women’s basketball…
• The networks are broadcasting more women’s basketball games, so watching on TV is easier than ever.
• And finally, women players are cashing in on national NIL deals with major brands featuring the players in national advertisements, signifying their status as influential figures in sports.”

If you would like to speak with Prof Geisler, please contact GW Senior Media Relations Specialist Cate Douglass at [email protected].

-GW-