At the start of her college basketball career, right in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, Caitlin Clark grew accustomed to playing at empty venues.
Back then, thousands of cardboard cutouts were brought in to fill the spare seats in stadiums during March Madness, including an oversized image of Clark’s dog, Bella. What a difference three years makes. Now, the superstar guard is playing in front of sold-out arenas at this year’s women’s NCAA tournament, and ticket prices have surged ever since her Iowa Hawkeyes defeated the LSU Tigers to book a spot in the Final Four.
“I think that when people see Caitlin in national commercials, that adds to that star power, right?” said Bluder. “It’s more credibility. It’s more visibility. It just continues to add to the allure of a great basketball player.” Clark’s dominance has coincided with a booming interesting in women’s college basketball, evident long before this year’s March Madness got underway. Regular season games have averaged an audience of 476,000 on ESPN platforms, a viewership increase of 37%.
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