OPINION: The Caitlin Clark effect is a feature of this moment in sports, not a bug.

Editor's note: Amy Bass (@bassab1) is a professor of sports studies. Manhattanville College He is also the author of “.One goal: A coach, a team, and a game that brought a divided town together.” and “A Struggle, Not a Victory: The 1968 Olympics and the Making of Black AthletesThere are titles such as “. The views expressed here are hers alone.read more opinion On CNN.

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Still confused about women's college basketball? Well, at this point I feel for you.

The NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament will feature 68 teams, meaning the NCAA will use the same logo and branding, March Madness, for the women's and men's teams for the third time. Oregon's Sedona Prince, now playing at Texas Christian University, spoke out in 2021 about gender inequality in everything from food service to weight room facilities.

Still, this year's tournament doesn't seem like a turning point for women's basketball. We have experienced many such moments in the past. When the U.S. women's teams swept Olympic gold medals in softball, soccer, and basketball in 1996, we thought this was a coming-of-age moment for Title IX, and we said so, and we've said it many times since. I did. As I said last year, the women's tournament exceeded last year's numbers by more than 100%, with nearly 10 million viewers watching LSU and Iowa State compete for the title.

We don't know exactly what this year's tournament will look like, but it's clear that we don't need to defend women's basketball anymore. This March Madness feels more like a coronation than an inflection point.

At the center of the story, of course, is the queen, Caitlin Clarke. Born and raised in the state, the University of Iowa senior is currently the most recognizable face in her game. The impact she had on viewers and passion for the sport, especially those new to the sport, was so great that she surpassed two other top athletes (South Carolina's Camila Cardoso and UCLA's Kiki Rice). ) will be featured in an ESPN+ documentary series. “All court reporters.”

very sorry (largely) When Clark made it through NCAA Division I, the enthusiastic “Pistol Pete” who came out of hiding (in a way reminiscent of all the closeted Margaret Court fans who suddenly wanted to say something about Serena Williams' stats) ” For all Maravich fans – the time score record previously held by Maravich.

As the team continues to simmer over the problems with Clark's 35 points with nine assists, six rebounds and three steals in Iowa's 93-83 win over Ohio State, the team has no chance. I'm going to miss it. Maravich wasn't allowed to play varsity at LSU as a freshman, there was no shot clock, no 3-point line, he played in fewer games, blah, blah, blah.

You've heard all these before. And this is all true. But as the sport continues to evolve, with new technology, rules and, importantly, changes in culture and laws, that is not how record keeping works. The segregated leagues Maravich played in are largely a thing of the past, and like baseball's Negro Leagues, some of baseball's best pitchers couldn't face the best hitters.

Perhaps we'll talk about Clark for a long time and someday tell our grandchildren what it was like to witness the rise of sports royalty in real time. And there will be many of us. At its peak, viewership for the record-breaking Iowa vs. Ohio State game reached 4.4 million viewers, making it the largest regular season audience for a women's game in his 25 years.

At the moment, we're seeing unprecedented numbers at every turn, and just keeping track of the skyrocketing viewership and attendance statistics is enough to make anyone's head spin.Several 4.5 million viewers Witnessed Iowa State defeat Nebraska to win the overtime conference title and set a new record. And who was lucky enough to get a ticket? Nearly every women's conference tournament set records, with the Big Ten selling out (109,000) for the first time.

For now, Clarke is Messi. She's Ledecky. She's LeBron. She is Otani. She is Serena. She is Simone.

But as exciting as it is, we're not just watching Clark take the throne. We're watching the sport she transcended evolve with her, before her, and behind her. I mean, sure, she's a player beyond her generation, but she's not. She carries women's basketball, or women's sports alone, on her shoulders. We have coaches who have built on the foundation laid by Pat Summitt, Muffet McGraw, Geno Auriemma and others. Geno Auriemma looks to add one more title to UConn (despite facing an unusual injury season) while building a legacy of their own.

In fact, the differences between LSU's Kim Mulkey, the highest-paid coach in women's basketball, and South Carolina's Dawn Staley have never been more clear than after their brawl in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) title game. Ta. The Shamcocks defeated the Tigers 79-72, but will lose standout center Cardoso ( dazzling three pointer In the first game of her career, against Tennessee, which sent her team to the finals), she received an altercation-related suspension in the first game of the tournament.

Indeed, Staley's team, ranked No. 1 overall, is a team to watch, the only team in the country to enter the tournament undefeated. It was supposed to be a rebuilding year for Staley after losing many players to the WNBA, including forward Aliyah Boston, but with incredible offensive depth including 3-point queen Tehina Paopao and Bree, the team is at an all-time high. It was the season. Hall, and a wall of defense to ensure Clark would finish his college career without winning a national title.

Mulkey's LSU team, which hopes to defend its title in 2023, will bring back Angel Reese to the tournament, who had an exciting showdown with Clark in last year's Final Four, sparking buzz for a “Showtime”-like fight between Bird and Magic. Players from multiple teams are participating in this tournament, including ESPN's All-America Team, which is a household name in its own right. Paige Bakkers of UW, Cameron Brink of Stanford, Hannah Hidalgo of Notre Dame, and Juju Watkins of the University of Southern California, who finished fourth. She was the first scorer in NCAA women's basketball history, and her 801 points slightly surpassed Clark's 799 points.

The excitement surrounding this year's women's tournament is part of a larger landscape, one that feels like a saturation point for women's sports in the United States, with the women's side taking up as much space as the men's side, if not more. There is. Putting aside the so-called Taylor Swift effect in football, women accounted for 47.5% of the Super Bowl's total attendance, an all-time high, proving once again that it's normal for women to watch sports. , you'd be hard-pressed to find a better moment. Women's sports were everywhere. It's happening at a breakneck pace for fans and sportswriters alike.

Last summer, 92,000 people flocked to Nebraska to watch a women's volleyball game, as Coco Gauff won the U.S. Open (and the weeks leading up to it), and then made a stunning comeback to win national and world titles. , including the return of Simone Biles, who won both Olympic titles while redefining the standard of greatness for everyone, while certainly adding to the buzz around this summer's Olympics. The Women's Professional Hockey League (PWHL), which launched in January, has sold out games and recorded record attendance, with fans even showing up outside of Elas' concerts (perhaps for the first time in professional hockey history, but don't quote me). No one has ever sung Taylor Swift's “You Belong With Me” with more enthusiasm.

Molson, the “Official Beer of Hockey,” began its partnership with the PWHL on International Women's Day earlier this month with its “Look at Her Name” campaign, featuring its logo on the back of game-day jerseys on top. Moved player's name down. Her long hair did not obscure the player's identity. Her accompanying commercial states, “We covered our names so people would know her name.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. Women's National Team, a true soccer dynasty, just won its first-ever Concacaf World Gold Cup with goalkeeper Alyssa Neher, erasing some of the memories of last year's early exit from the World Cup. Ta. The professional National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) opened its 2024 season last week in the first arena built specifically for NWSL teams, but no one was more pleased to be sitting at Kansas City's CPKC Stadium than the Mahomes family. not present. is part of the ownership group. The league finished with record-setting attendance for the 2023 regular season and announced two new franchises and new media rights deals worth $240 million.

The rights deal represents the amount of money that has been raised behind women's sports, including last year's WNBA deals with Aeon Television and ESPN. EW Scripps (owner of Aeon) CEO Adam Simson told The Athletic after signing on the dotted line, “I think it's time for women's sports to be presented in the way that fans deserve.” It's time for the league, owners and players to have a platform to showcase the athleticism and drama of the WNBA. ”

WNBA's historic media deal expires in 2025, says Rebecca Lobo Pointed out by X (old Twitter)), is kismet and can lead to unparalleled ratings. “It's huge for Caitlin Clark to play this summer,” the basketball legend posted. “She will increase the W's ratings and the league's value to our broadcast partners in a way that no previous female player has been able to do.”

But Clark, a finalist for AAU's Sullivan Award and one of only three athletes to be nominated twice (she won last year), doesn't just carry the weight of women's sports on her shoulders. do not have. With millions of viewers and fans on the rise at a rate that is hard to keep up with, in a good way, the burden is increasingly shared.

This does not mean that inequality in sport is a thing of the past, or that important comparable issues do not still exist, particularly in terms of investment, pay and media coverage. And let me be clear here. But remember this at a time when the political climate surrounding women often feels (and is) very grim. Many people are not only paying attention to women, but also supporting them. Because more than watching boys and girls follow Caitlin Clark and hand out handmade posters proclaiming to the world that they're fans in the hopes that someone will scribble her name, Can it ever be glorious?

there is nothing.