NCAA Basketball Finals: Women's Final Had Higher Ratings Than Men's Final for the First Time Ever

For the first time ever in the history of NCAA Basketball, the women's final drew in more viewers than the men's final in a historic final that featured undefeated South Carolina triumph over Iowa, which was led by rising superstar Caitlin Clark, who people credit for the sudden surge in interest for women's basketball.

The Nielsen ratings for both NCAA Basketball championship games have been released, and the championship game between South Carolina had a total viewership of 18.9 million, peaking at 24.1 million in the game's final 15 minutes. It is now the most-watched women's college basketball game ever and doubled the previous year's 9.9 million viewers.

This also surpassed the viewership for the NCAA Basketball Men's Final, which drew 14.8 million viewers. While it was a little more than last year's viewership number of 14.7 million, it was still 4 million viewers short of the women's final, according to CNN.

The big reason for the women's final beating the men's final in the ratings game was Iowa's star player, Caitlin Clark, who despite losing the game still scored 30 points. Due to her performance throughout the season, Clark has captured the imagination of the entire country with her killer long-range shooting, She was so good at long-range that many have dubbed her the "Female Steph Curry."

Despite losing back-to-back NCAA championship games for Iowa, Clark has cemented her legacy with all the records she set, both on the court and in her proving that women's basketball can, in fact, draw viewers in.

Caitlin Clark Already Cemented Her Legacy, Even Though She Lost the NCAA Basketball Women's Final

The hype for the NCAA Basketball Women's Final was highly anticipated, as celebrities like Jason Sudeikis and even professional basketball players like Luca Doncic were watching this collegiate player from Iowa, hitting 3's like she was an NBA all-star.

Thanks to her, the interest in women's basketball is higher than ever, according to Yahoo! News, and this is despite her not winning the NCAA Championship in her collegiate career. While this does put her "GOAT" status for women's basketball up for debate, many cannot deny her impact on the women's game overall.

"When you're given an opportunity, women's sports just kind of thrives," said Caitlin Clark after their loss. "I think that's been the coolest thing for me on this journey. We started our season playing in front of 55,000 people in Kinnick Stadium. And now we're ending it playing in front of probably 15 million people or more on TV. It just continues to get better and better and better. That's never going to stop."

LeBron James Defends Caitlin Clark, Tells Bashers To Stay Away from Her

With all her success right now, several bashers have also come forward to criticize her. However, one of the biggest stars in all of basketball has come to her aid as Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James is telling haters to keep out.

"If you don't rock with Caitlin Clark game you're just a FLAT OUT HATER!!!!! Stay far away from them people!! PLEASE," the former NBA champion tweeted on X. It was unclear who the Lakers star was referring to, but Clark already has some critics in the form of current and former NBA and WNBA players, many of whom were already questioning Clark's legacy as she heads to the WNBA Draft.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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