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Good Thursday Morning. Here’s the rundown of this week’s Sports Business Playbook:

• 📰 This Week’s Topic: Good Thursday morning. March Madness has come to a close, and it feels only appropriate to talk about what was a landmark tournament on the women’s side. This week, we’re talking about the 2020 women’s college basketball recruiting class — led by superstars like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and Paige Bueckers — and how they changed the trajectory of the sport for years to come.

• 🍸️ Impress Your Friends at Cocktail Party: Want to show off your sports knowledge in a public setting but don’t have time to read the deep dive? Hit the “Impress Your Friends at Cocktail Party” section at the bottom for a CliffsNotes of this week’s topic

• 🤯 “Whoa of the Week”: Dude Perfect — yes, the YouTube trick shot guys — raised nine figures to build out their platform further

• 💪 Weekly Reminders that Sports are Awesome: Iowa coach Lisa Bluder gives an amazing speech after falling short in the championship for the second year in a row, and Donovan Clingan’s run at UConn is also an ode to his late mother.

Hey team,

• 12.3 million

• 14.2 million

• 18.7 million (peaking at 24 million)

Beginning with the Iowa-LSU thriller in the Elite Eight last Monday night, continuing in the semifinal clash between UConn and Iowa that went down to the wire, and culminating in South Carolina’s completing its undefeated season in the national championship on Sunday, Women’s March Madness broke its own viewership number record three times in the past 10 days.

The national championship viewership total is a monster number and a new high watermark for women’s sports — up 114% over last year’s record — but it’s also one of the biggest sporting events in the last 20 years.

The women’s championship drew four million more than the men’s final on Monday night, and here’s how it stacks up against other major sporting events.

This is rarified air, and it shows both the exponential progress women’s college basketball has made in the last few years and how bright the future is as more media coverage, money, and support come into the game.

There are myriad macro reasons for why this growth has occurred, but, there’s one recruiting class that has provided the bonafide star power that, when taken with the tailwinds pushing women’s sports to new heights, has changed the trajectory of women’s basketball for forever.

The Class of 2020.

Led by Caitlin Clark, this group came in top ranked, delivered on and off the court in college, and four of them (Bueckers announced she is returning to UConn next year) are projected to be top picks in the WNBA Draft in a few weeks.

They are now, in my opinion, the equivalent of the 1979 men’s class, featuring Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, that many credit with reshaping the NBA into the dominant global force it is today.

In this week’s SBP, we look at this class’ dominance on and off the court, what their run means for both women’s college basketball and the WNBA, and the group that’s coming behind them to continue their legacy.

The Anatomy of a Meteoric Rise

We have to put this meteoric rise in context.

As noted in the chart from Nielsen below, up until last year, the women’s championships steadily drew between 3-5 million viewers for much of the last 30 years.

The championship just two years ago drew 4.85 million viewers. That’s a relatively strong number compared to the past several years, but it now looks miniscule compared to the nearly 300% increase we saw this year.

What’s changed?

Some of it can be explained due to structural changes in the system:

• NIL: Since going live in 2021, this has given athletes more opportunity to market themselves and grow their audiences.

• Improved media coverage: 2021 was the first year ESPN broadcasted all women’s tournament’s games on national platforms, which coincidentally was the same year the NCAA faced widespread criticism for the imbalance between the men’s and women’s tournaments. Who could forget the weight room photo?

• A general increase in support and enthusiasm around women’s sports: In addition to the redoubled investment in the tournament (including letting the women’s side use “March Madness” for the first time) following a gender equity review by the NCAA, there has been a growing groundswell across women’s sports, and it’s led to a ton of “smart money” coming into the ecosystem.

If these are the pieces of the ship, then the class of 2020 was the rocket fuel. Here’s how they made an impact.

Caliber of Play

There’s no question that there have been countless great players throughout women’s college basketball history.

That being said, each of the Big Three brought a little something extra that raised the overall caliber of play and made it a better product, though.

On the court, Reese is one of the best offensive rebounders the game has seen, and she always rose to the occasion when the spotlight was brightest.

Her play really took off when she moved down south, though.

After two quality seasons at Maryland, Reese transferred to LSU before last season looking for a winning culture and because “she wanted more.”

Thus, “Bayou Barbie” was born.

Reese partnered with head coach and fashion icon (nightmare?) Kim Mulkey to put together a dark horse run to the NCAA title last year and become one of the most polarizing teams we’ve ever seen in women’s sports. Regardless of whether you loved or hated them, you watched them.

Regarding Bueckers, it’s been overshadowed by Clark’s dominance the last few years, but Bueckers was actually the crown jewel of the 2020 class who was originally anointed as the chosen one.

She won the Gatorade Female High School Athlete of the Year award, SLAM Magazine hailed her as “the most electrifying high school player in the world, and she lived up to the hype as a freshman — winning the Wooden Award, the Naismith Trophy, AP Player of the Year, and USBWA Player and Freshman of the Year.

Since then, though, injuries have plagued the UConn star, and she only played in 17 combined games in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons. During this time, Clark stepped into the void during and became the queen of college basketball.

We saw what Bueckers is capable this year now that she’s back full strength — she averaged 25.8 points, 8 rebounds, 4.6 assists, and 2.6 steals per game in the tournament — willing a shorthanded UConn team to a Final Four where they pushed Iowa to the brink.

Speaking of Caitlin Clark, she is like nothing we have ever seen before in the women’s game.

The unlimited range, the hair trigger release, and the uncanny court vision to lead the country in assists per game — all rolled into one perfect offensive player.

The two best comps of her game I can give are men: Steph Curry and “Pistol” Pete Maravich.

Clark broke scoring records they both owned this year.

The below chart showing how much more prolific she was than the rest of college basketball — both men and women — made me laugh out loud.

Brand Power

The below chart from Sportico compares the social media followings of the Women’s and Men’s Wooden Award finalists — the annual award given to the best player in CBB — puts this point even more into focus.

Guess which three names are at the top of the list.

This social media presence translates into dollars.

Each of the Big Three has an On3 NIL valuation of high six figures or greater, and their NIL portfolios are with some of the biggest brands in the world.

• Clark ($3.2m): State Farm, Gatorade, Nike, Gainbridge, Buick, Xfinity, Bose, Hy-Vee, H&R Block

• Reese ($1.8m): Playstation, Raising Cane’s, McDonald’s, Coach, Wingstop, Outback Steakhouse, Amazon

• Bueckers ($643k): Nike, Gatorade, Dunkin, Nerf, Bose, Crocs, GoArmy, StockX

Hell, Reese did a Vogue photoshoot to announce she was entering into the WNBA Draft, and Reebok is teasing a signature shoe for her.

Much of this brand power can be attributed to the data-backed theory that female athletes generally have better engagement on social media than their male counterparts, but it’s also a sign of the times for both the men’s and women’s games.

For the last two decades, the men’s stars have mostly fallen into the “one and done” category, where players go to the NBA after their freshmen seasons.

This lack of continuity creates challenges for sustained viewership and interest in the star players, and the players who are left are great but often not the superstar caliber that captivate people.

The women’s game does not have this issue.

Every player is a part of their team for four to five years, which gives her time to build her profile, break records, and develop compelling narratives.

Speaking of narratives…

Storylines

Clark’s senior season felt like a barnstorming tour for a pop star.

As she rewrote the record books, Clark brought massive crowds and economic impact to Iowa (all games sold out this year; Travis Scott and other celebrities showing up to watch), away games (tickets were often going for hundreds to thousands of dollars on the secondary market), and the postseason games she was a part of (see: ratings).

And every star needs a good foil.

The rivalry of Clark’s Iowa vs. Reese’s LSU the last two years has transcended women’s sport and become a part of the broader cultural sports narrative and collective mindshare.

The 12 million number put up in the Elite Eight is nothing to frown at, but if there had somehow been a rematch in the national championship, I believe we would have seen the viewership number eclipse (see what I did there?) 20 million.

And that’s the exciting part about this group. While the catalyst, it’s too simplistic to call out Clark as the sole driving force behind this movement, in my opinion.

They’re all incredible individually — and Clark has definitely carved out her place as the alpha of this group — but their competition against each other and intertwined narratives have poured gasoline on the fire of women’s college basketball and elevated it to another level.

Lasting Impacts

Women’s College Basketball

To be clear, it’s unlikely we will see a repeat of the 2024 tournament’s monstrous viewing numbers next year.

The biggest star the college game has seen is gone, no returning players are chasing a major record, and there are no rivalries like the one we saw between LSU-Iowa.

It doesn’t matter.

Women’s CBB has flexed its muscles and shown the powers that be what it’s capable of when given the proper resources and attention.

The media companies now recognize the potency of a compelling star, so they will likely give Paige Bueckers the Clark treatment next year as the dominant senior presence.

While she’s not Caitlin Clark and the game may not continue on a linear path and set a new viewership record every year, the bar of “what good looks like” for women’s CBB has been raised, and we can expect to see comparatively strong numbers for the marquee events in the women’s game going forward.

There are two major wins that will enable women’s CBB to raise its game. First, a new media rights deal with ESPN kicks in next year, seeing the annual revenue for the women’s tournament 10x to $65 million.

This is undervalued by everyone’s estimation, but it’s the anchor of a larger, $115 million/year package with ESPN that airs 40 NCAA championships for the next eight years. Trade some revenue up front with the women’s game for stability and to de-risk finding a partner for the less popular sports’ championships.

Regardless of the media deal this cycle, the women’s game is in great shape going forward.

ESPN noted that excluding Iowa’s games, viewership through the Elite Eight women’s games was up 73% from last year. The rising tide is raising all ships, and it is permeating younger generations.

As noted in the tweet from FOX’s Michael Mulvihill below, the demographic differences between the viewers of the men’s and women’s games suggest that the women’s game is growing its footprint in coveted younger demographics that will shape the future.

This strong media presence leads into the major win #2: the potential implementation of a units system similar to the men’s tournament.

For a quick refresher, conferences with teams in March Madness receive a “unit” from the NCAA for every game their conference’s team(s) play in. The more wins, the more units accrued. The percentage split varies from conference to conference, but all schools in the conference will receive a portion of these units for the next six years. To put the amount in context, the NCAA is paying out $170 million this year to the men’s side.

As Washington Post write Jesse Dougherty tweeted, NCAA President Charlie Baker is working to bring a units system online by next year’s women’s tournament.

This number will not rise to the eyewatering figures paid out on the men’s side, but it’s going to create a steady revenue stream for schools, which they in turn will hopefully reinvest to grow their programs.

Given where we sat just two to three years ago, this is a monumental step in the game’s growth.

WNBA

The Class of 2020 brings it star power to the WNBA beginning next week when the draft takes place.

To state the obvious, Caitlin Clark is the most hyped player in WNBA history.

The Indiana Fever, owners of the first overall pick and second to last attendance this past year, are seeing demand for tickets to their home games skyrocket — one example: $10 tickets second level tickets are selling for $500 on the secondary.

What’s even more interesting: the effect her impending presence is having on away games.

Not only are ticket prices for the games when the Fever come to town shooting up, but the home teams are moving the games to bigger venues (the Las Vegas Aces —> 8k more seats) and/or manufacturing a rivalry with Clark despite the fact she hasn’t been drafted yet (Phoenix Mercury).

While not as acute as Clark’s presence, the other key players from the Class of 2020 are bringing their NIL deals and large social media presences to the W with them.

Yes, NIL deals happen only in college, but the brands that were with these stars the past few years are not going anywhere. They’re just going to be converted into traditional sponsorships, and they’re going to have even more opportunity to do innovative things.

Angel Reese most likely will not be the immediate sensation that Clark is, but her platform and brand power is going to bring more eyes and interest to a league that is in hyper growth mode.

This is a net win for the W, and the incoming star power is one of the key factors in media rights negotiations that are up after next season.

Commissioner Cathy Engelbert recently floated to the press that she wants to get at least double the rights on this next media deal — an estimated $120 million per year.

This type of money is massive for the league as it works to build the infrastructure needed to continue its quest for greater professionalization (i.e., larger compensation, charter flights) and greater mindshare in the global sports market.

Who’s Next?

In addition to Bueckers, who else can carry the mantle for women’s CBB and keep this cycle going?

Young stars like Flau’Jae Johnson (LSU — also signed to Roc Nation as a rapper), Hannah Hidalgo (Notre Dame), Madison Booker (Texas), and many more are part of the next group up.

Beyond these stars, there’s one who has the potential to captivate people in the future the way Clark did this year: JuJu Watkins.

Here are just a couple of the USC star’s accolades from arguably the best freshman year by a women’s player ever:

• National Freshman of the Year, and just the fifth freshman ever to be named first team All-American

• Broke the NCAA D1 freshman scoring record

• She was second in the country in scoring (27.1 ppg), second on the team in rebounding (7.3), and led the team in steals (2.3) and assists (3.3).

For comparison, Bueckers won national player of the year her freshman year averaging 20 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 5.7 assists per game, and Clark put up 26.6/5.9/7.1 her freshman year.

Watkins already boasts an sterling off the court presence too:

• Nearly 700k Instagram followers

• NIL deals with ATT, Nike, Dove, Estee Lauder, CELSIUS, Cash App, Ritz, Poppi, Morgan & Morgan Law Firm, and a new, incredibly innovative partnership with NerdWallet.

• Become a rockstar in the LA area and a role model for the younger generation

Regardless of who the next “it” girl(s) is/are in the future, the impact the class of 2020 had on growing the game is something that will never be forgotten.

🍸️ Impress Your Friends at a Cocktail Party

Want to show off your sports knowledge in a public setting but don’t have time to read the deep dive? This section is the CliffsNotes of this week’s topic

• Opener: The NCAA Women’s college basketball tournament broke its own viewership record three times in the last 10 days, including the national championship that drew 18.7 million viewers. This number is huge. It’s 4 million more than the men’s final, and it outranks almost every other non-NFL sporting event in the last 20 years. It’s also up ~300% from just two years ago. What’s changed?

• Shot: In addition to structural shifts (NIL, increased media coverage, general growth in women’s sports), the class of 2020 — featuring Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and Paige Bueckers has transformed the game.

• Shot: Their caliber of play was next level, but what differentiated them the most was their brand power via social media and the narratives that were built around them the past two seasons — both things that the men’s game struggles with given the pervasiveness of the “one and done” stars.

• Shot: The lasting impacts of this class will be felt in both college and the WNBA. College athletics is seeing record viewership amongst prized younger demographics as it begins a new TV deal next year, and the WNBA is keying on this rookie class — particularly Clark — to drive interest and ticket sales. The hope is that they can use their new star as a catalyst for securing a new media rights deal that doubles their current one to $120 million annually.

• Chaser: The future is bright for women’s basketball. Bueckers is coming back for his last year, and there is a ton of young talent hitting their strides. The big one to watch, though: Southern Cal’s JuJu Watkins. She had the best freshman year ever statistically, and she seems bound for captivating the country in a similar fashion to Clark.

🤯 “Whoa” of the Week

Insane, mind-blowing things constantly happen in the sports business world. Here was my favorite of the past week.

1. Dude Perfect — known for their sports themed trick shot videos on YouTube — just received a nine-figure investment to build their brand and platform out further.

💪 Weekly Reminder that Sports are Awesome

This newsletter is, of course, mostly centered on the business side of sports and the things that happen off the field. That being said, it’s important to remember why we fell in love with sports in the first place, though.

This section is meant to highlight the amazing things that happened in sports this week that serve as that reminder.

1. Iowa coach Lisa Bluder with an amazing speech after her team’s loss in the National Championship for the second straight year.

2. UConn center Donovan Clingan carries on his family’s legacy in honor of his mom.

Thanks for reading! Let me know what feedback you have.

Also, if you enjoyed this breakdown, please consider sharing it with your friends and network by clicking the social media icons at the top of the newsletter.

Until next time, sports fans!

-Alex