ATLeagle {l Wrote}:Being on TBS hurt and Caitlin Clark was a once in a lifetime event. The tourney is still a great TV package but college hoops has become a one-month sport for the most part. For a basketball blue blood, UConn still is not a great TV draw. That's why the Big 12 bailed on them. Next year without Clark the women's numbers will tank. Then you put Duke or UNC or UCLA in the Final Four and the ratings will go up.
I think this is true. Clark made the women's event huge, and timing and the networks hurt the men. On Monday night I turned on CBS to watch the men's NC game and could't understand why it wasn't on there. I had to go searching for it to find it on TBS. And a Monday 9 pm start time on the east coast does not help.
I think they should change the scheduling so that the women's final 4 games are played on Thursday at 6:30 and then 9 p.m., the men's on Friday in the same time slots, and then the Championships for the women on Saturday at 6 or 7 p.m., and the men's championship on Sunday at 6 p.m. - the same time slot as the superbowl. I know MLB won't like that but you would increase viewership for both championship games. (But it may hurt the numbers for the men's final 4 games). The women's viewing numbers will certainly drop off next year due to no Clark, but so much depends on the individual players in that sport and the storylines the networks can publicize, and they will continue to try and do so because, Equity. As long as LSU and UConn are in the women's final 4 the coaches will also draw interest.