DES MOINES, Iowa — Women's basketball continues to attract crowds and break TV viewership records, and the Iowa Hawkeyes are paving the way.
Leaders and coaches of women's basketball in Iowa credit it to the hard work put in throughout the years, especially the work done in the state of Iowa.
“The focus was always on what they could not do and now the focus is, 'Wow, see what they can do," said Jean Berger, the executive director of the Iowa High School Girls Athletic Union.
The Iowa Hawkeyes have sold out every home game and drew similar crowds wherever they traveled. It is a must-see team that people love to see compete.
“Young players or young girls now that can see real people as real examples," said Dickson Jensen, the chairman of Jensen Group and president of All Iowa Attack. "There’s even real light to say, here’s the path forward and we will have success, I mean, it's literally changing the culture.”
From celebrities to young kids, all eyes are on women's basketball during this exciting time.
The women's games continue to break TV viewership records. Iowa's game against UConn in the women's Final Four averaged 14.2 million viewers, making it the most-viewed women's basketball game of all time.
“Even when I started coaching ten years or so ago, I’d come to the gym and ask who watched the game this weekend, and one or two kids on the court would raise their hand," said Amber Thomas, director of girls basketball operations for Waukee JAM. "This year, I coach a group of sixth graders and I would ask that question to start the practice on Monday, and literally every hand in the gym would go up.”
With Caitlin Clark, alongside other local Iowans, leading the Hawkeyes to another national championship game, the state has a front row seat, with an experience like no other.
Jensen, who coached six players on the 2023-24 Iowa Hawkeyes team, credits their success to hard work and Iowa values.
“When you go to one of these programs here in the state of Iowa, you’re expected to win, and you do win, so that’s what continues to attract it and the momentum keeps going," Jensen said.
Female players now continue to build this legacy through sold out arenas and NIL deals.
“What the Iowa women’s basketball team has done is just captured probably first the interest, but then the hearts of people," Berger said.
In the past, women saw empty stands at their games and were forced to make do with subpar equipment and spaces. But those women set the building blocks for the current generation, and collegiate athletes are setting that standard.
“We don’t have a professional team here in men’s or women’s, so it is the college athletes," Thomas said. "You see your parents going, you see them go tailgate at football games. Well, now they're doing it for basketball games too."
Programs across the state say their teams are growing in size, and kids are coming to them with hopes of being just like the Iowa college athletes.
“There’s not a secret recipe that I tell kids, it’s just not put a tack on your jersey and you’re going to be good," Jensen said. "That’s not the way this works, it's they worked hard.”
While the attention women's basketball is receiving continues to grow, leaders say is just the beginning.
“There’s not many around sitting around saying 'Oh, yeah I [watched] the women’s game, they're good for women,'" Jensen said. "I mean, I haven’t heard that statement now for about a couple of years because most of those people are sitting around saying, 'They're good, period.'”