Women’s Sports 2024 Review: From The Caitlin Clark Effect To A New Industry Benchmark

The 2024 season shattered much of what was left of the glass ceiling in women’s sports, transforming the industry from the traditional plea for attention into a sustained wave of demand. Packed arenas and sold out events became the norm, not the exception. Viewership and attendance totals exploded into new historic territory, while NIL opportunities turned women college athletes into household names.

Some late 2023 record-breaking crowds set the stage for historic attendance and viewership throughout the 2024 season. Beyond the Caitlin Clark Effect, several women’s leagues showcased a new benchmark for women’s sport, including NCAA Women’s Basketball, the WNBA, and the NWSL. In reflecting on the success of the 2024 season, the records aren’t merely about growth. Rather, the 2024 season generated a market shift that has redefined the landscape of women’s sports. And as historic as these achievements were, they may well be remembered as merely the opening chapter of a new industry benchmark in women’s sports’.

NCAA Viewership and Attendance Growth

Across women’s sports, the 2024 season flowed seamlessly from the historic firsts that closed out 2023. On the heels of the historic 2023 outdoor Nebraska Huskers Women’s Volleyball match that set a new record for the largest crowd ever to watch a women’s sporting event in the United States with 92,003 fans in attendance, Iowa Women’s Basketball set their own. The stage was set for 2023-24 women’s basketball season with the ‘Crossover at Kinnick‘ as the Iowa Women’s Basketball team drew 55,646 fans to Kinnick Stadium for their 94-72 exhibition victory over DePaul on October 15. The event set a new NCAA women’s basketball attendance record and marked the first time a women’s game was played outdoors in a football stadium.

For all of collegiate women’s basketball, 2024 showcased remarkable growth and sustained interest in the sport. Capped off by a historic Final Four that drew record numbers for a women’s event. The NCAA women’s basketball championship game between Iowa and South Carolina drew 18.9 million viewers, setting records as both ESPN’s most-watched college basketball game ever and the largest audience for any women’s college basketball game in history. The game peaked at 24.1 million viewers during its final minutes, making it the most-watched basketball game across all levels in five years and establishing itself as the second most-watched women’s sporting event in U.S. television history, behind only the 2015 Women’s World Cup Final. The broadcast numbers represented a 90% increase from the previous year’s championship and solidified the game’s position as the most-watched annual sporting event outside of football since 2019.

National Women’s Soccer League

Similarly, the NWSL has been experiencing consistent growth over the previous seasons, peaking in 2024 based on record viewership and attendance numbers. The NWSL Championship between Orlando Pride and Washington Spirit averaged 967,900 viewers on CBS, setting a new league record and an 18% increase from 2023, with viewership peaking at 1.1 million during Orlando’s historic 1-0 victory. The league’s success extended beyond the title match, as the NWSL Skills Challenge drew over 1.5 million viewers, while total viewership across all rated platforms reached 18.7 million for the season – five times higher than the previous season.

The NWSL also hit attendance milestones in 2024 when the league surpassed two million fans in regular season attendance, marked by a sellout crowd at Portland’s Providence Park during Christine Sinclair’s final regular season match. In total, 89 matches drew over 10,000 fans throughout the 2024 season – a significant increase from the 55 matches that drew over 10,000 fans in 2023. These totals pushed the per-match attendance average above 11,000 fans for the first time in league history. Subsequently, the NWSL became the first women’s soccer league globally to average more than 10,000 fans per game.

WNBA Records

The WNBA also experienced viewership growth in 2024, as the Finals between the New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx averaged 1.6 million viewers, marking the most-watched Finals in 25 years and a 115% increase from 2023. The championship series also made history as each of the five games drew over 1 million viewers, culminating in New York’s first WNBA title after an overtime victory in Game 5. The league’s regular season broadcasts on ESPN platforms also saw a 170% increase in viewership compared to the previous year.

The league’s growing popularity extended across all major events, with the AT&T WNBA All-Star Game drawing a record 3.4 million viewers, and the WNBA Draft, featuring highly anticipated prospects such as Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark, attracting 2.4 million viewers, amounting to a 328% increase from the 2023 draft. Overall, 32 WNBA telecasts across all networks surpassed 1 million viewers each, with 22 of those broadcasts on ESPN platforms, while the full season (including regular season, playoffs, and Finals) averaged 1.2 million viewers, representing the most-watched season ever on ESPN platforms and a 155% increase from the previous year.

The WNBA also set new attendance records in 2024 with a 50% increase across the league, highlighted by the Indiana Fever averaging 17,035 fans at Gainbridge Fieldhouse – a 319% jump from the previous year. The league’s surge in popularity forced multiple teams to relocate games to larger venues when hosting Indiana, while the Fever’s regular season finale in Washington drew a record-breaking crowd of 20,711 spectators.

Women Athletes Dominate The Summer Olympics

In a historic moment for Olympic history, the 2024 Paris Games achieved true gender parity, with women athletes comprising exactly half of all competitors for the first time since the modern Olympics began in 1896. This achievement was certainly historic and represents a dramatic shift from just 30 years ago, when women made up less than a third of Olympic participants.

The impact of this equal representation played out in viewer engagement, as women athletes became key in driving the highest television ratings of the 2024 Games. Women gymnasts were particularly crucial, as their events dominated viewership across four separate days of the Games. The pinnacle came during the bronze medal performance of U.S. gymnast Suni Lee on the uneven bars, which drew 35.4 million viewers. The women’s team competition and qualification rounds also experienced similarly massive audiences which exceeded 34 million viewers.

League Expansion

These historic increases in viewership, attendance, sponsorship, and revenue across women’s collegiate and professional sport also led to increased investments and league expansion in 2024. Following the 2023 announcement of the WNBA’s expansion team, the Golden State Valkyries, the WNBA announced two additional expansion teams in 2024, with Toronto (Toronto Tempo) and Portland set to join the league for the 2026 season, bringing the total number of franchises to 15. Importantly, Toronto’s entry marks the WNBA’s first expansion into Canada. The league plans to reach 16 teams by 2028, with potential markets including Kansas City, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Orlando, Jacksonville, Denver, Miami, Nashville, and Philadelphia.

The NWSL announced the addition of its 15th franchise in Boston in 2023, set to begin play in 2026 under the name BOS Nation FC with an entry fee of $53 million. The league plans to add a 16th team, with Cincinnati, Cleveland, Denver, Nashville, and Philadelphia as leading candidates. Team valuations rose substantially in 2024, with Angel City FC selling for a record $250 million, while the San Diego Wave FC sold for $113 million. Similarly, the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) announced plans to add two new franchises, potentially for the 2025-26 season, with over 20 markets under consideration. The league currently operates six teams owned by The Mark Walter Group.

This sustained growth has also led to the development of a new women’s professional basketball league in 2024, Unrivaled. Unrivaled, which is set to launch in January 2025, was founded by WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier with backing from sport leaders such as NBA player Giannis Antetokounmpo. The league will feature some of the tope WNBA stars and play will take place in Miami throughout 2025 with plans to expand nationwide by 2026. The goal of Unrivaled is to provide domestic playing opportunities and an alternative to overseas competition for professional women basketball players. This league will also help grow the women’s game, as fans will have new opportunities to see the top players compete.

Name, Image, and Likeness

Changes to name, image, and likeness policy also continued to benefit women college athletes in 2024. LSU basketball star Flau’jae Johnson’s December 2024 equity deal with the Unrivaled basketball league and debut of her Puma signature shoe highlighted the growing intersection between college women’s sports and major brand partnerships. This capped a year where Johnson built an NIL portfolio worth and estimated $1.5 million through her deals with JBL Audio, Apple Cash, and Roc Nation. Johnson also released a music EP featuring Lil Wayne and appeared in Amazon Prime’s “The Money Game” documentary alongside teammate Angel Reese, Tigers quarterback Jayden Daniels and gymnast Livvy Dunne.

Overall, women college athletes achieved record NIL valuations in 2024, led by LSU gymnast Livvy Dunne at $4 million with 13.6 million social media followers, LSU basketball player Flau’jae Johnson achieved a $1.5 million valuation with 3.7 million followers, while UConn’s Paige Bueckers maintained a $1.4 million valuation supported by 5.1 million followers across platforms. The success also extended beyond the traditional revenue programs, with USC’s Juju Watkins reaching a $576,000 valuation and Arizona’s Jada Williams hitting $421,000.

Overall, the growth across women’s sport in 2024 reflected a fundamental shift in fan engagement, media coverage, and investment. From record-breaking attendance across leagues to historic WNBA and NWSL viewership numbers, women’s sports established new benchmarks at both the collegiate and professional levels. The expansion of professional leagues, launch of new ventures like Unrivaled, and historic NIL valuations for women college athletes demonstrates that 2024 marked a transformative year for women’s sports, setting a foundation for continued growth in viewer demand, league development, and athlete marketability.