Women's Basketball

While the world has definitely seen a renaissance of women’s sports in 2024, basketball has been leading the way. Between the show-stopping WNBA and NCAA college seasons, and a thrilling Olympic basketball tournament in Paris, women’s basketball fans have been treated this year. The product has always been incredible, but the increase in access to games as well as the media finally realizing that there is a hungry audience for these hoopers has helped boost the sport to new heights this year. Women’s basketball fans have been showing up all year, smashing viewership and attendance records for not only their sport but beating numbers for NBA, MLB and other leagues as well. Game 5 of the 2024 WNBA Finals between the New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx topped out at 3.3 million viewers, while competing with not only MLB playoffs but also Sunday Night Football in the NFL. Back in April, the Women’s March Madness Championship game between Iowa and South Carolina peaked at 24 million viewers.

Women’s sports and its athletes are more than just players — they are activists. Not only for themselves when it comes to increasing support for their sport, but for the bigger issues. The WNBA has always been active in protesting and engaging in political issues, in their own league, and for charities that support the rights that are important to the players. These athletes have been at the forefront, speaking up about the Black Lives Matter movement, LGBTQ+ rights, women’s rights and more. We are undeniably in a time where women’s rights are in jeopardy, and these athletes are being role models to fans with their activism. Many of these fans also fall into those marginalized groups, and the WNBA being open about the work they are doing gives fans the chance to also become involved. One of the best things about the women’s basketball fandom is that they are proud, loud and get involved just like the players.

We are in such a special time right now in women’s basketball. The veterans who have been leading the way for the past decade are right in there with the leaders and stars of the next decade. You have Caitlin Clark, the biggest basketball star of 2024, playing against Diana Taurasi — who has been holding down the sport since the early 2000’s. A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier — all players who were around before the boom of women’s basketball — are in their prime and still getting better. Then in college, the next generation of players are already shocking fans with their skill. In a decade, when there are more teams, when every game is sold out, when games are still smashing viewership records, there will be a lot to remember from this era. The feeling of finally seeing these players get the hype they deserve. The feeling of women’s basketball games finally having packed arenas for games. The feeling of all the firsts and the records that were broken during this era. The fact that we’ll be able to say “I watched Clark play in college” or “I was watching when the New York Liberty won their first championship. There will be a whole new generation of kids who never knew a time when women’s basketball wasn’t just one the biggest sports in the world.