History was made in Kinnick Stadium on Sunday afternoon as 55,646 fans watched the Iowa women’s basketball team beat DePaul, 94-72, in the first-ever “Crossover at Kinnick” — the highest attended women’s basketball game on record.
Sunday’s exhibition game crushed the previous record of 29,000 fans at a women’s basketball game, which was set in 2002 when UConn beat Oklahoma, 82-70, in the NCAA National Championship game.
“Nowhere in the country could this happen except for the University of Iowa,” Iowa head Coach Lisa Bluder said to the fans in the stadium following the game. “You all were a part of history today. Thank you.”
Bluder said she first approached UI Interim Athletic Director Beth Goetz about the event in April following the Hawkeyes’ run in the Final Four.
“That idea can fall flat if nobody shows up, but man, Hawks fans showed up today,” Bluder said.
Bluder said she couldn’t have pictured drawing a crowd this big when she first took over as head coach in 2000.
“We were probably playing in front of 55 people sometimes, and now we’re playing in front of 56,000, so we have come a long way,” she said.
Before tip-off, both teams got to adjust to shooting the basketball in a football stadium in wind gusts of up to 11 miles per hour and temperatures reaching a max of 55 degrees on the day — leading to many players utilizing hand-warmers while on the bench.
When it came time for the game, one could have thought it was a Saturday football game at Kinnick as the Hawkeyes entered the field hand-in-hand while AC/DC’s “Back in Black” blared over stadium speakers.
Reigning national player of the year Caitlin Clark finished with a triple-double of 34 points, 10 assists, and 11 rebounds in the game. Four other Hawkeyes — Hannah Stuelke, Addison O’Grady, Kate Martin, and Molly Davis — also scored in double digits.
“Having a triple-double outside in a football stadium? What can she not do?” Bluder said during the post-game press conference. “[Caitlin] is such an electrifying player.”
Fans in the stadium did the “I-O-W-A” chant for nearly the entire fourth quarter as DePaul made a late-game comeback.
Though it may have thrown the team off by how loud it was, Clark said she was thankful to experience the chant first-hand after witnessing it at football games.
“There was a point where I was like, ‘I can’t hear or think right now’ because it was so loud, but it shows how invested our fans are into the game, and we’re lucky to have that,” Clark said post-game
Bluder said Iowa was also inspired by Nebraska volleyball’s record-breaking game on Aug. 31, where 92,003 fans packed into Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska, to see the Huskers volleyball team beat Omaha, 3-0 — the largest attendance for a women’s sporting event ever.
When asked how she felt about the increased attention towards women’s athletics, Clark said that it’s well deserved.
“I think people are starting to understand how amazing women’s sports are and how fun it is to watch, and it’s just going to continue to grow,” she said. “If you give [women] the opportunity to shine, they will.”
It was announced before the game that all proceeds raised from the event would be donated to the UI Stead Family Hospital. And during the game, UI President Barbara Wilson and Interim Athletic Director Beth Goetz presented a check of $250,000 made out to the hospital.
“Hawk fans are special,” Bluder said. “If you set a goal for Iowa fans, they’re going to come through for you.”
Data visualization by Natalie Dunlap
The exhibition was the first event of its kind to occur at Kinnick Stadium since 2015’s “Grapple on the Gridiron,” in which the Iowa men’s wrestling team conducted the first outdoor college wrestling meet, drawing a crowd of 42,287 attendees.
Outside the stadium for the exhibition game, Hawkeye fans gathered in small packs to participate in classic tailgating traditions like bean bag toss and grilling hot dogs and hamburgers.
Jade Lynch, of Cedar Rapids, was tailgating in a parking lot outside of Kinnick. She said her family has tailgated at Iowa football games since she was young, and this event was no different.
“We go to all of the football games, and last year we went down to Dallas for the Women’s Final Four, so we go all over the place to root for Iowa,” Lynch said.
Sam Rhatigan, of Cedar Rapids, brought his two daughters, Jae and Hadley, to their first-ever game at Kinnick Stadium today.
“They’ve seen a bunch of their games at Carver [-Hawkeye] Arena, so having their first time here be for a basketball game in a historical atmosphere like this is pretty cool,” Rhatigan said.
Rebecca Meeke and Vicki Ballou, both of Iowa City, even made a double-header out of the weekend, returning home from Wisconsin earlier in the morning after traveling to watch the Hawkeye football team beat the Wisconsin Badgers, 15-6, on Saturday.
The two have been lifelong Iowa athletics fans, even traveling to see the women’s team in the NCAA tournament the past two years.
“Being from Iowa, we don’t have a professional team, so we’re all in for the Hawkeyes,” Meeke said. “If there’s an Iowa game that we can make, we’ll be there.”
The game was also broadcast live on the Big Ten Network for those who couldn’t make it to Kinnick, and Ballou said Iowa’s exhibition game is a testament to how the team captured not just the Hawkeye community but the entire world’s attention with its postseason run resulting in a runner-up finish last year.
“Caitlin is money, and this team is must-see television,” she said. “I don’t see why they wouldn’t have more basketball games here.”
Twins Rees and Austin Pratt, both nine, waited two hours in line with their family before tip-off to enter the stadium.
The Pratt family took the five-hour trek from Sioux City, Iowa, to Iowa City early on Sunday morning. The twins held signs saying “Let’s go Clark” that they custom-made for the event.
“She’s my idol because she works hard and encourages me to work hard,” Rees said.
The family even installed a 10-day countdown in their home in anticipation of “Crossover at Kinnick.”
“We’ve been looking forward to it for a lot longer than that,” Austin said.
