- By Brandon Drenon
- BBC News, Washington
The scene was described as “controlled chaos”.
Dozens of people queued down the block and around the corner to get into the Sports Bra in Portland, Oregon, the first bar in the world – according to owner Jenny Nyugen – to only show women’s sports.
The fact that it was the middle of a Monday did not curb the crowd’s enthusiasm, nor did it slow them from consuming “three times” as many drinks as they normally would.
They were there to witness an epic women’s college basketball tournament game between the Iowa Hawkeyes and LSU Tigers, headlined by superstars Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese.
From the Sports Bra crowd to celebrities Lebron James and Travis Scott, more than 12 million viewers tuned in. It was the most-watched college basketball game ever, women’s or men’s.
“It was electric,” Ms Nyugen said, recalling the atmosphere as the University of Iowa beat Louisiana State University, a victory led by Clark who scored a whopping 41 points.
“I’ve been watching women’s basketball for decades. It feels like everyone else is just catching up… it’s about damn time,” she added.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has been hosting the basketball tournament known as March Madness since 1939.
In just three weeks, 68 of the best college teams are winnowed down to one champion.
The annual event is a media frenzy where millions of fans watch games around the clock for days on end.
For decades, that only applied to the men’s tournament. Not anymore.
Ticket prices for the women’s championship this year cost twice as much as the men’s on average, reaching as high as $11,000 (£8,736).
One of the reasons for this “watershed moment in women’s basketball”, said Amanda Christovich, a reporter at Front Office Sports, is generational talent like Iowa’s Caitlin Clark.
The other, she said, is that the push for gender parity in college sports has reached a new height.
In 2024, the NCAA signed a TV contract with ESPN that values the women’s tournament at $65m annually, more than 10 times the previous rate. Less than five years ago, it wasn’t even possible to watch every game of the women’s NCAA tournament on national broadcasts.
The bigger stage has given a bigger platform to bigger stars. And Clark – who is arguably the biggest name in the sport right now – has been a main driver of the recent buzz.
The college senior has scored over 3,900 points in her career, more than any other college athlete, male or female, in the history of the NCAA.
What is the Caitlin Clark Effect?
Caitlin Clark is the 22-year-old headline-grabbing, trash-talking, fan-charming Iowa guard who is considered one of the greatest basketball players in college history.
She wins games. Lots of games. Breaks records. Lots of records. And fills stadiums with sell-out crowds eager to see her.
Many are hoping to witness her renowned long-distance three-point shots.
Standing dozens of feet from the basket, sometimes in the middle of the court, she shoots the ball over the heads of her opponents with ease. The distance often defies the average range of a collegiate female player.
Clark recently broke the record for the most three-point shots made in a single season, a record previously held by professional player Steph Curry.
Her star power – punctuated by more than one million followers on Instagram – has drawn a multitude of new fans to the sport. People travel thousands of miles and spend thousands of dollars just to see her.
The phenomenon of her influence has been dubbed the Caitlin Clark Effect.
As with Taylor Swift, her appearances not only drive ticket prices up, but also balloon hotel rates and strain restaurant reservation…
This article was originally published by a www.bbc.com . Read the Original article here. .