#MARQUEE HOOPS FULL#
The full tournament averaged 634,000 viewers, up 16% from the previous year’s coverage.ĮSPN has the rights to broadcast the women’s tournament through 2024 as part of the NCAA championships package. The national semifinals averaged 2.7 million viewers, up 21% year over year, and was the most viewed semifinals in a decade. Last season’s championship game, in which South Carolina beat UConn, was the most viewed women’s title game in nearly two decades, drawing 4.85 million viewers. ESPN took over the entire tournament in 1996 and the title game aired in the evenings every since. Back in the 1980s when the women’s tournament first started, the Final Four and championship games aired in the afternoon on CBS. “Women’s NCAA Championships continue to generate strong audiences across the ABC/ESPN networks and this move represents yet another unique opportunity to showcase this marquee event and the student-athletes who are competing for a national championship.”ĮSPN said it will have the 20 championship games on ABC and would look at moving the game back to prime time in the future but currently has commitments to entertainment shows the night of the game. “Scheduling the Division I Women’s Basketball Championship on ABC has been a goal for quite some time in our ongoing efforts to maximize the exposure of women’s sports in collaboration with the NCAA,” said Burke Magnus, ESPN’S president for programming and original content.
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The women’s Final Four is in Dallas this year. The championship game, which usually airs in prime time, will be played at 3 p.m.
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The NCAA women’s basketball title game will be broadcast this season on ABC for the first time.