Women’s basketball maybe other sports should break from current Media Rights agreement.

Before anyone starts, we know that football pays the bills but missing revenue opportunities is still missing revenue opportunities.

There is a growing call for Women’s Basketball to break away on their own from the current NCAA Media Rights agreement set to end in 2023-2024. Our friend and editor at @TrojanWire @MattZemek recently discussed this topic on a recent podcast.

The @Pac12 @BigEast and other conferences need to help move the ball forward and get the NCAA to de-couple the Women’s #NCAATournament from other NCAA sports championships, so that women’s basketball can begin to generate far more revenue for schools:https://t.co/8SyaTc6Iw1

— Matt Zemek (@MattZemek) March 29, 2023

Andrea Adelson also wrote on the subject at ESPN. 

Currently, the NCAA has a television deal with ESPN for its Division I championships, excluding men’s basketball and football. That deal runs through 2023-24…

In a report the NCAA commissioned in 2021 to study gender inequities between the men’s and women’s tournaments, independent media expert Ed Desser estimated the annual broadcast rights for women’s basketball would be worth between $81 million and $112 million in 2025.

The report points out that number is multiple times higher than the current deal, which pays $34 million annually for its championships package.

The women’s NCAA tournament is drawing record ratings.

2023 #MarchMadness #NCAAWBB Elite Eight viewership up 43% YOY

🏀 2.2M viewers
🏀 @LouisvilleWBB–@IowaWBB: ESPN’s most-viewed Elite Eight game on record
🏀 Tournament-to-date viewership up 42% YOY
🏀 4.7B mins consumed thru Elite Eight pic.twitter.com/epj3GzZ97I

— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) March 28, 2023

But the NCAA shouldn’t stop with women’s basketball. Softball is also drawing big numbers. 

In total, the 2022 Women’s College World Series averaged 1 million viewers per game, down from 2021’s historic numbers (which averaged 1.2 million/per) but marks the 3rd-consecutive WCWS that has hit the 1 million-mark in average viewership.

College baseball viewership is also up. 

Entering Saturday’s Game 1 of the College World Series Final, the men’s College World Series was averaging 1.04 million viewers across the ESPN family of networks — up 17% from last year. 

This seems like a massive opportunity for the NCAA to increase revenues for participating schools and conferences in their championships.

I mean it’s not like the NCAA has ever missed the boat on something before…

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