Americans are excited about it like never before. Record-breaking Caitlin Clark is a big reason why.
Dozens of people queued down the block and around the corner to get into the Sports Bra in Portland, Oregon, the first bar in the world - according to owner Jenny Nyugen - to only show women's sports.
"It was electric," Ms Nyugen said, recalling the atmosphere as the University of Iowa beat Louisiana State University, a victory led by Clark who scored a whopping 41 points. The bigger stage has given a bigger platform to bigger stars. And Clark - who is arguably the biggest name in the sport right now - has been a main driver of the recent buzz.
"She's a once in a generation player. She's incredible. She's viral," Ms Christovich said. "She's the conduit by which a lot of people have discovered women's college basketball this year." One example was that the women's tournament was not allowed to use the NCAA's trademarked March Madness logo until the 2022 season. And, until recently, it was also harder to find on TV, Ms Christovich said."The moment upon us is one that has been a snowball building for the last generation or so," said Kate Fagan, a former Colorado University basketball player, and author of the book Hoop Muses.
The NCAA then carried out a complete overhaul that included allowing the women's tournament to use the March Madness branding. The new media contract with ESPN, which now airs all of the women's March Madness games across multiple platforms, was another by-product. "There are a handful of women athletes that are earning millions of dollars through NIL each year," said Blake Lawrence, founder and CEO of Opendorse.com, a platform for NIL contracts.
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