During the 1987-88 college basketball season, I covered the University of Texas men's and women's basketball teams for United Press International. The men played a slow-tempo offense under coach Bob Weltlich, while the Lady Longhorns featured a fast-paced, exciting brand of ball under legendary coach Jody Conradt.

The women finished that season 32-3, while the men barely finished above .500 (16-13). One thing that stood out in my mind had nothing to do with records or statistics. The Lady Longhorns outdrew the men in attendance several times during that period. In 1986-87, for example, the women averaged 2,000 more per game in attendance than the men.

While it's true that fans were turned off by Weltlich's slow brand of offense and numerous players quit the team because of his disciplinary style, women's basketball was appealing because it was exciting to watch.

This was before the WNBA, social media and YouTube existed. But even then, I saw the potential for women's sports to be recognized as equal to the men in the competitive landscape.

The Potential of Women's Sports Today

Fast forward about 35 years later: TV ratings for the 2023 Women's Final Four were record-setting. According to ESPN, the two semifinal games averaged 4.5 million viewers across its platforms, a whopping 66 percent increase from last season's Final Four games. They were the most-watched games ever in men's and women's college basketball history on ESPN+. The championship game netted 9.9 million viewers.

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Attendance figures were just as impressive. As a whole, the 2023 NCAA Women's Tournament set an attendance record of 357,542. The Final Four featured two sell-outs and also set new attendance records.

The growing appeal of women's sports isn't limited to basketball. In April, the University of Nebraska's volleyball team sold nearly 89,000 tickets in just two days to a match scheduled for this coming August at Memorial Coliseum, the school's football stadium. The event will smash the previous college volleyball attendance record of 18,755, also set by Nebraska in the 2021 NCAA National Championship match against Wisconsin.

The stadium typically seats over 82,000 but will include field level and indoor seating for the volleyball match, which would allow a capacity of over 89,000. If such attendance is realized, it would come close to the record of any women's sporting event in the U.S. A crowd of 90,185 packed Rose Bowl Stadium to watch the 1999 Women's World Cup final between the U.S. and China.

Are Women's Stadiums Serving Their Fanbases?

College softball is getting its share of attention in recent years. Oklahoma City's Hall of Fame Stadium, which plays host to the Women's College World Series, added upper deck seating in 2019 that increased capacity to over 12,300. That number was exceeded several times in the 2021 and 2022 WCWS. In last year's tournament, 12,533 fans watched a doubleheader featuring defending champion Oklahoma against Texas and Florida versus Oklahoma State. That number was exceeded the next day when 12,403 took in that day's slate of games. It was the second-largest crowd in WCWS history.

Thanks to the success of the U.S. Women's Hockey National Team, women's college hockey is seeing its own share of growth as well. Last February, the Boston Globe reported that a crowd of 1,790 watched the 2020 Women's Beanpot Championship, which took place just weeks before the coronavirus pandemic put a halt to all sports around the U.S. The 2022 Beanpot semifinal between Boston College and Northeastern drew 1,755, and rivaled men's Beanpot crowds for loudness and intensity.

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As interest in women's sports has grown, so has the demand for bigger and better venues. The first Women's Final Four was hosted by Old Dominion in 1982 at the Norfolk Scope. A sellout crowd of 9,532 watched the championship game, despite the fact that Old Dominion had already been eliminated from the tournament. The 2023 event took place at American Airlines Center in Dallas.

The expected large crowd for Nebraska's upcoming volleyball match at the school's football stadium underscores the growth of the sport across the country, including beach volleyball. The 2023 NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship was held at Gulf Place Public Beach in Gulf Shores, Alabama, drawing 11,667 fans. The event was also televised on ESPN.

Traditionally, the Women's Beanpot Championship Game had been played in on-campus rinks. TD Garden Arena in Boston announced in March that the consolation and championship games will be hosted at their venue starting in 2024. To celebrate the news, arena officials and the Boston Bruins invited women from Boston University, Boston College, Northeastern and Harvard to a Bruins game. The 2023 champion Northeastern Huskies were honored during the game.

There is still work to be done to bridge the gap between women's and men's sports in terms of support and the quality of its facilities. But strides are being made, and as awareness continues to grow, so will the potential revenue. That's something the NCAA and its schools will find difficult to ignore.

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* Originally published on May 31, 2023, by Stephen Kerr