Women hope Sweet 16 next step to own March Madness TV deal

Women’s college basketball believes it has the makings for a hitreality TV show with star power driving a marketable product thathas a growing audience.

So they’re taking the ensemble on the road for the Sweet 16.

The NCAA changed the format of the tournament this year,featuring two regional sites instead of the traditional four. Thegames in Greenville, South Carolina, and Seattle are the lateststep to grow the sport and show the ladies can stand on theirown.

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley believes the question ofwhether women’s hoops merits its own March Madness TV contract hasalready been answered, even though the women’s tournament losesmoney under the current deal.

“Somebody’s watching women’s basketball,” Staley said. “Somebodyfeels like we’re in high demand, and obviously the decision-makersthat put us on now realize that they’ve got to keep putting uson.”

The women’s title game will be broadcast on ABC — the firstappearance on network television since 1995. Women’s basketball ispart of a current contract that bundles all NCAA championshipsunder one deal except for men’s basketball and football.

The NCAA is expected to decide by the fall if the women’stournament will become a separate entity after hiring Endeavor, aconsulting firm, to determine how to take championships tomarket.

“It’s an exciting time. Year over year, we continue todemonstrate the value that women’s basketball brings to thatspace,” said Lynn Holzman, the NCAA vice president of women’sbasketball. “It’ll be exciting to see what the results are of thisfor the sport itself, but also for the NCAA more broadly in ourchampionships.”

TV ratings have been trending up over the last two years. Thisyear’s regular season was the most viewed on ESPN networks in eightyears and was up 11% from last season. That came on the heels oflast season’s title game between South Carolina and UConn thataveraged 4.85 million viewers — the most for a women’s championshipgame since 2004. The first round had a 27% ratings increase fromlast year.

“People enjoy watching close games. They like the fact thatthere’s some semblance of uncertainty of who’s going to win,” UConncoach Geno Auriemma said. “There’s been so many changes in the top10 all year long. ... Teams are in, they start out at the top theygo out they come back in. I think all that creates a level ofexcitement.”

People aren’t just tuning in during March Madness, they havealso been showing up.

Attendance at the NCAA Tournament has continued to rise the pastfive seasons, growing by 60% in the first two rounds from anaverage of 4,464 in 2016 to 7,240 this year. This season had thehighest attendance ever for the first two rounds.

“It makes us very bullish on women’s basketball,” Holzman said.“It is demonstrative of the growth we’ve been seeing in thesport.”

Now the NCAA hopes that growth is reflected in increasedtelevision revenue.

ESPN pays $34 million per year for the championships package,which it agreed to in 2011, including women’s basketball. But thelaw firm the NCAA hired to investigate equity issues in 2021 saidin its report that estimated women’s basketball annual broadcastrights would be worth $81 million to $112 million.

The NCAA said the 2019 women’s tournament lost $2.8 million andthose losses have multiplied the last two years since the thesports governing body increased spending after disparities betweenthe men’s and women’s tourneys were pointed out.

If the NCAA can get close to the numbers projected in the 2021report, it might be able to offer revenue shares — known asfinancial units — to women’s teams in the tournament in a structuresimilar to what the men receive from their March Madnesstournament.

Men’s teams earn a slice of the money pie for their conferencefor every game they play excluding the championship. Each unit ispaid by the NCAA over a six-year cycle. This year the NCAA willdole out $170 million to conferences from the men’s tournament.

It’s fair to say the women have a lot riding on this weekend atthe two regional sites.

The NCAA is hoping the success of the Final Four — which sellsout every year — translates to its new “mini Final Fours.”

Holzman believes the new format gave fans a better chance toknow where their teams would be headed. The NCAA vice president ofwomen’s basketball also anticipated greater economic impact on hostcities would lead to more bids to host in the future.

But for some coaches, it’s all about location.

The regional sites the next two years will again be held incities on opposite coasts. The closest team playing in Seattle thisyear is Colorado, located 1,300 miles away.

Texas coach Vic Schaefer is “a little concerned” about thedistance some teams will have to travel, but eager to see how thetournament unfolds.

“The powers that be believe it’s going to be great, and I’mhopeful that it will be,” Schaefer said. “Those are two oppositeends of the spectrums, west and east, three time zones between bothof them. And there’s just nothing in the Midwest. And we have a lotof teams in the Midwest. We’ll see.”