Just when it seemed there were no more records left to break, Caitlin Clark and her Hawkeye teammates shattered expectations on Monday night.
ESPN PR reported that a staggering 12.3 million viewers tuned in to witness the national championship rematch between Iowa and the LSU Tigers, marking it as the most-watched women’s basketball game in television history.
Not stopping there, the game also set a new in-house record for ESPN, becoming the most-watched college basketball game ever on their platforms.
The evening’s winners on the scoreboard were Iowa and UConn, both advancing to the Final Four in Cleveland this weekend. Yet, the real triumph belonged to the women’s game itself, seizing the March Madness stage on Monday night with star power and delivering two captivating contests, likely winning over a host of new fans in the process.
Meanwhile, as Caitlin Clark’s star continues its ascent, a doppelganger of the Iowa standout has emerged, embracing her uncanny resemblance to the basketball phenom and delighting fans with photo opportunities.
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Comparing viewership numbers, last year’s LSU-Iowa national championship game on ABC drew 9.9 million viewers. In contrast, Monday’s rematch on cable significantly surpassed that figure.
Adding further context, The Athletic’s Richard Dietsch revealed that prior to last year’s initial showdown between Iowa and LSU, the record for the most-watched women’s game dated back to a 1992 Final Four matchup between Virginia and Stanford, which drew 8.1 million viewers on CBS.
