In the world of sports, there are normally men’s sports and women’s sports, but here’s the problem: Despite it being the same sport, people tend to watch only the men and it makes no sense.
Let’s take basketball for example. One of the most popular and well-known traditions in the game is March Madness.
March Madness is a tournament for men’s and women’s college teams where 64 teams are standing and only one team can call themselves champion.
One of the reasons why it is so popular is because people love to create brackets and predict who they think will win. Some people make money off it as well.
Last year, when it came to making brackets, 17.3 million men’s brackets were made; while only 1.3 million women’s brackets were made.
I just have only one question. Why?
I will honestly never understand the disrespect that women’s sports get on a yearly basis. Especially women’s basketball.
Some may say that the women’s games are not as exciting, but did y’all not watch the LSU versus Iowa game last year in the March Madness tournament? It was huge.
LSU’s Angel Reese and Iowa’s Caitlin Clark put on a show in that game.
The game before that was Iowa versus South Carolina and people said it was one of the best women’s basketball games ever played.
Women spend just as much time working on their craft. Sometimes even more.
The good news is that attendance at women’s sporting events is on the rise. One of the prime examples of this is last year’s WNBA season.
Attendance for the games increased by about 70%. The Las Vegas Aces attendees increased from a crowd total of 5,607 in the 2022 season to 9,551 in the 2023 season.
During the 2023 WNBA Finals, game three between the Aces and the New York Liberty saw a crowd of 17,143 people, which set a record for the largest gate attendance in WNBA History.
During the 2022 Women’s March Madness tournament, there was an average of 231,777 people in total attendance, which topped the 2022 attendance total of 216,890.
Not only is attendance going up, but the star power in women’s sports is as well.
The WNBA has pro athletes like Sabrina Ionescu, Diana Taurasi, Candace Parker, A’ja Wilson, and so many others.
The world of college basketball features Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark, Conway’s own Chloe Clardy, Paige Bueckers, and others.
To go in a more local stance, remember UCA softball last year? The Bears not only represented our school in the NCAA Tournament, but they won the ASUN Softball Championship and created record attendance at the Farris Field when the Arkansas Razorbacks, ranked sixth at the time, came to Conway.
A record crowd was there, with 2,475 people, UCA pulled out a 2-0 win over the Lady Razorbacks that day, completing a sweep over the team up north.
It’s safe to say that women’s sports are definitely on the rise and the world needs to start paying more attention to them.