Iowa women’s basketball sets all-time viewership record in 71-69 victory over UConn

Friday night’s Final Four matchup drew 14.2 million average viewers and peaked at 17 million viewers.

April 6, 2024

Iowa women’s basketball practice drills during a day of press conferences and open practices ahead of a NCAA Championship game between No. 1 Iowa and No. 1 South Carolina at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio, on Saturday, April 6, 2024. The Hawkeyes and the Gamecocks face off at 2:00 p.m. CT.

The Iowa women’s basketball team broke their own viewership record once again.

Friday night’s Final Four matchup between No. 1 Iowa and No. 3 UConn was the most-watched men’s or women’s college basketball game on ESPN on record with 14.2 million average viewers and a peak of 17 million viewers. This broke the previous record of 12.3 million average viewers set in the Elite Eight matchup between Iowa and LSU just five days ago, according to ESPN.

Not only did the Iowa-UConn game break the women’s college basketball viewership record, but it was also ESPN’s highest audience for any basketball game, ESPN’s second-best non-football telecast ever, and ESPN’s most-viewed college event ever on ESPN+.

To put this in perspective. This game tops…

• Every World Series game last year.
• Every NBA Finals game last year.
• Every Daytona 500 since 2013.
• Every Masters final round viewership since 2013.
• All but five CFB games in 2023. https://t.co/i7e3G7DWSK

— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) April 6, 2024

The Hawkeyes topped the Huskies, 71-69, to secure a spot in the NCAA Championship game for the second year in a row. They will take on South Carolina in a rematch of last year’s Final Four game, where Iowa took the 77-73 victory. The Gamecocks defeated NC State, 78-59, on Friday to advance to the title game.

Saturday afternoon, Iowa and South Carolina held open practices at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Ohio, ahead of the NCAA Championship game, drawing a crowd of 19,000 fans.

19,000 fans registered to attend South Carolina and Iowa’s open practice ahead of the national championship 🏟️

(via @Bhawk05, @sportsiren) pic.twitter.com/LvnnEiOpAp

— Front Office Sports (@FOS) April 6, 2024

The NCAA’s decision to allow an open practice is an effort to promote the title game and the stars that will play in the game, more specifically Iowa superstar guard Caitlin Clark. It is expected that the Iowa-South Carolina matchup will break the 14.2 million viewership record.

The women’s national championship game will take place on Sunday at 2 p.m. CT.

About the Contributors

Chris Meglio, Sports Reporter

(he/him/his)

Chris Meglio is a first year student at the University of Iowa studying a double major in sport studies and journalism. He will be working as a sports journalist for The Daily Iowan covering women's volleyball for the fall sports season.

Ayrton Breckenridge, Managing Visuals Editor

(he/him/his)

Ayrton Breckenridge is the Managing Visuals Editor at The Daily Iowan. He is a senior at the University of Iowa majoring in journalism and cinema. This is his fourth year working for the DI.