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NCAA women’s national championship game ratings down significantly in 2025
By Mark Kern
Published:
The NCAA women’s basketball season is over after Paige Beuckers and the UConn Huskies knocked off defending national champion South Carolina, 82-59.
This game had all the storylines that could make this an incredibly compelling game. Would South Carolina go back-to-back and 3 of the last 4 years as a national champion? Could Geno Auriemma add to his incredible resume and win a 12th National Championship? Could Paige Beuckers finally win that elusive national championship?
Despite all of these storylines, the ratings from Sunday’s game came out, and they aren’t anywhere close to what the ratings were last season.
This year, there were 8.5 million people watching UConn against South Carolina. Last year’s game featured Caitlin Clark and Iowa against South Carolina, and that game had. 18.9 million viewers.
Obviously, there was an expected drop with Clark no longer in the game, as she is the most popular women’s basketball player in the world. The moment she joined the WNBA and the Indiana Fever, she took that team from the worst in the league to a playoff spot and arguably the most popular team in the league.
There were many fans across the country voicing their frustration of the timing of the game. Tipoff was in the middle of the day on Sunday, instead of a traditional primetime slot.
Not having Clark definitely hurt the ratings, but a change at a tip-off time could be something that could help ratings too.
