In a dominant win over the University of Connecticut Huskies, the South Carolina Gamecocks finished the ‘21-’22 Women’s NCAA Basketball Tournament out strong. The No. 1 ranked Gamecocks came into the championship against UConn, the most successful women’s college basketball program in NCAA history, with a total of 11 national championships. South Carolina contained the Huskies to a final score of 64-49 with star Aliyah Boston who fought for 16 rebounds. Senior guard Destanni Henderson stepped up in the national championship and finished with 26 points to secure a South Carolina victory. 

With the highest viewership since 2004, the national championship closed out a strong season of competitive basketball. In the two tournaments since the 2019 season, viewership has increased by 30%. The 2022 tournament saw the most viewed early rounds on record. In Minneapolis for the Final Four, Stanford, Connecticut, South Carolina, and Louisville battled for a spot in the championship with an average of 3.46 million viewers, up 20% from 2021. ESPN has had exclusive rights to the NCAA Women’s tournament since 1996, and the number of viewers has continued to increase since then. ESPN introduced Megacast this year, which streamed the Final Four on all ESPN platforms. Despite the growth in women’s basketball fandom, the disparities between the women’s and men’s tournaments remain glaring.

Men’s basketball and football are the only sports excluded from ESPN’s DI athletics deal. Therefore, these sports must make individual TV deals and thus are able to earn much more. Coach Dawn Staley, who led the Gamecocks to two national championships, believes the bundling approach has devalued the women’s game. In an interview with the Washington Post Staley said, “We’re in high demand; we’re heavily watched. Our sport is at a place where it’s going to take off; it is taking off. We have missed opportunities to capitalize on revenue.” She argues that one of those opportunities is how broadcast revenue is distributed after the tournament. Men’s revenue is granted on a performance-based formula and is distributed in units to the conference of each team that advances in the tournament. Women’s basketball teams, however, are funded by the athletic department at each school, so unlike the men, their money is grouped with all the sports at the school. So women’s teams that have had the same success in the NCAA tournament as men’s teams do not receive equal compensation for their dedication to the game. Because the men’s teams provide more revenue for the schools, those teams acquire more support from school leadership. There is no opportunity for women’s college basketball to grow and succeed at the same level as men’s college basketball unless television deals and the unit structure are changed. With women’s sports gaining popularity they require a larger platform where investors believe in their ability to succeed as a profitable business. 

A great indicator for the future of women’s basketball is the success of female college basketball players with various sponsorship deals. The new NCAA rule allows athletes to work with brands and receive payment based upon their name, image, and likeness, but many overlooked female athletes doubt their ability to succeed through this new program. Female basketball players are second only to football players in total compensation, and stars such as Aliyah Boston and Destanni Henderson have capitalized on the opportunity to use their platform for their own benefit and the benefit of their sport. Boston and Henderson’s coach, Dawn Staley, argued,  “I think, individual by individual, it’s expanding our game in areas that we didn’t reach before.” Though there is a long road to equality between women’s and men’s basketball ahead, the opportunities for success in the sport have increased dramatically.