Women's basketball is in an unprecedented era of growth.
It feels like a new viewership or attendance record is set on a regular basis. The women's national championship game between South Carolina and Iowa drew a stunning 18.7 million viewers on average. ESPN's WNBA coverage averaged 1.2 million viewers this regular season, a 170 percent leap from 2023. And this isn't just the Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese effect (though they're certainly important); the Connecticut Sun sold out their first game at TD Garden against the Los Angeles Sparks on Aug. 20.
So why are fewer and fewer high school girls playing?
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, which slashed participation across all sports, numbers have bounced back and even exceeded pre-pandemic levels. The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) touted in its recent 2023-24 participation survey that more than 8 million kids now play high school sports, including record highs for both boys and girls.
But the NFHS data claims that girls basketball is not part of the surge.
