The women's Final Four this weekend is set to smash viewership records as star players and greater TV coverage drive more fans than ever to the sport. It kicks off this evening with No. 1 seed South Carolina facing off against No. 3 seed N.C. State at 7 p.m., followed by No. 1 seed Iowa competing against No. 3 seed UConn. Ratings for the tournament are expected to reach well into the double-digit millions. Last week's Iowa-LSU matchup reached 12.
'Broadcast, over the air coverage, had been lacking,' said Jon Lewis, who runs Sports Media Watch, a website that tracks athletics broadcasting. He said ESPN simply took a calculated gamble that there was finally enough demand for the women’s game that keeping it on regional broadcasts or on secondary networks like ESPN 2 was limiting opportunities for growth. “ESPN’s a business — there’s no charity involved here,” Lewis said.
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