Women's Sports Volunteer To Assist Networks
When will networks support women's sports by giving them a chance to be more widely noticed has been a perennial topic.
The women's college basketball national championship is moving to ABC in the spring of 2023, and the NWSL championship game will be played in prime time on CBS on October 29.
However, as we've seen in several announcements this week, women's sports have the audience and, with each new opportunity, a track record that makes it a no-brainer for networks to put the marquee events on bigger platforms. It certainly doesn't do women's sports any favors. Networks will be able to halt the trend of viewers that are dwindling in almost every other area.
Let's start with ESPN's decision to switch the national championship game from ESPN to ABC, which was widely anticipated to feature South Carolina and Aliyah Boston.
It's a milestone news for women's basketball to be able to broadcast the national championship game in Dallas to a larger audience on ABC for the first time in 2023, according to Beth Goetz, director of athletics at Ball State and head of the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee. "We appreciate ABC/involvement ESPN's in fostering the game's and the championship's continued growth."