The NCAA Division 1 Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments bring together casual and serious college basketball fans to cheer on their favorite teams and players, and more often than not, programs and prospects that fans have never had a rooting interest in before. Year after year, the tournaments deliver incredibly compelling storylines. This year’s story, undoubtedly, is the surge in popularity of the women’s game. 

Since the tournament’s founding in 1939, the NCAA Division 1 Basketball Tournament has been synonymous with the men’s tournament, and while the men’s game remains extremely popular – there’s been a paradigm shift. For the first time ever, more people watched the women’s championship game than the men’s, according to Nielsen. Additionally, this year’s women’s tournament generated 60% more earned media coverage than the men’s tournament, while also setting viewing records across all six rounds. 

The women’s game is taking center stage – with growing popularity and interest in the teams and their all-star rosters – carving out new and exciting marketing and communications opportunities for brands. Now the question is just how big this opportunity will be and which brands will be at the forefront of advancing women’s sports. 

We identified three takeaways from this year’s tournament, the trends to watch and the opportunities for next year and beyond. 

Drafting off the Popularity of the Tournament Remains a Winning Proposition: March is often when brands try to attach themselves to the men’s or women’s tournaments to better connect with their target audience. Now, seeing the opportunity to drive visibility and conversation, other organizations are getting in the game, too. During the tournament, it “leaked” that the Big3 offered Caitlin Clark, the University of Iowa’s record-breaking player, $5 million to suit up for the 3-on-3 league – a “historic offer” to a “generational athlete,” according to Ice Cube. The offer generated 1.5K original stories, so don’t be surprised if you see other professional teams or leagues, or upstarts looking to draft off emerging players, leveraging the popularity of the tournament in the future. Brands can get in the game too, as long as there’s an authentic connection to an athlete or another component of the tournament, e.g., team, coach, etc.  

Women Athletes Deliver Proven Value: Watch any sporting event and you’ll see professional athletes during the commercial breaks. But this March – those athletes were predominantly non-professional women athletes. For those brands that wanted to connect with consumers using current college basketball athletes, there were more well-known women superstars in college basketball than men to choose from. That’s particularly evident when reviewing internet search volume for March, where Clark generated 900% more searches than two of the more popular men’s basketball athletes in Zach Edey of Purdue University or Dalton Knect of the University of Tennessee. Moving forward, brands would do well to identify the rising stars in the women’s game –  now –, to build their playbook for sponsorships and NIL deals headed into next season. An added benefit of utilizing the top women’s players – they’re staying in college (and at leading schools) longer than their male counterparts, providing a longer runway and better opportunities for brands to curate authentic connections with their growing fanbases. 

Leverage Media with Cultural Influence: One of the more interesting moments during this year’s tournaments was Angel Reese, Louisiana State University’s (LSU) star player, declaring for the WNBA Draft, even though she still had a year of college eligibility left. The interesting part wasn’t that Reese declared for the Draft, it’s HOW she did it – with a feature in Vogue (Angel Reese Is Taking Her Talents to the WNBA). Until now, you may not have put Vogue and women’s college basketball in the same category, but the match-up of Reese’s crossover star power, and the popularity of women athletics, made this exclusive one to remember. The Vogue story delivered significant conversation around Reese’s decision, generating 8.5K earned media stories that continue to drive conversation today, and solidify her position as a budding WNBA superstar. In the article, Reese said of her decision to share the news exclusively with Vogue, “I didn’t want anything to be basic.” Not only was Reese not “basic,” she opened the door for brands to target more culturally focused outlets like Vogue, as opposed to relying solely on sports outlets.

What once was a moment dominated by the men’s tournament has shifted dramatically. Women’s players are the rising superstars, taking their lion’s share of the brand opportunities. With several of the women’s game greats declaring for the Draft, there’s optimism and interest to see how their phenomenon evolves, and who will rise next. 

March continues to be one of the greatest times of the year for brands to connect with fans through their shared love of basketball. For those interested in joining the conversation, laying the groundwork for more inclusive partnerships and activations starts now. 

Chris Potter, Gabby Hawley, Miranda Xie, Matt Groch and Steve Hickok contributed to this article.

As a highly contentious election year, 2024 stands to be as volatile and divisive as any period in recent memory. The following principles and guidance will help ensure people leaders are equipped and ready to support and engage with their teams through the potentially rocky period ahead.

Also check out our full Guidance for People Leaders, including worksheets and a checklist, for navigating this year.

Understand the Landscape

To understand the issues creating social division and key milestones that could serve as inflection points throughout the year, people leaders should take a quick scan of the news — from a balance of sources — every morning.

Be Accessible to the Team

To determine how employees are doing, people leaders should walk the halls or host 1:1 meetings with their teams, adopt an “open door” policy, encourage people to reach out when they need to talk, and practice active listening.

Stay Neutral

To remain balanced and refrain from bringing biases into workplace conversations, people leaders should pay attention to employees’ body language, ask how people are feeling while conversations are taking place and direct discussions accordingly.

Get Familiar with Policies and Helpful Resources

To socialize helpful resources to employees, people leaders should designate time to review and share their organization’s corporate values, code of conduct and relevant policies, and use these worksheets to guide their team’s ways of working.

Consider Situations that May Arise

To prepare for potential workplace disruptions, people leaders should consider the specific political and societal issues important to employees, as well as inflection points that may result in displays of emotion in the workplace.

Maintain Control of Conversations

To navigate discussions about politics or polarizing issues in the workplace, people leaders should reinforce that employees are expected to always treat each other with respect and that the workplace is a safe space where no one should feel marginalized or harassed, among other helpful reminders.

Appropriately Address Workplace Issues

To host productive conversations about employee behavior, people leaders should consult with HR before the conversation, seek to understand each person’s perspective and respectfully remove herself/himself from any conversation in which she/he feels threatened or unsafe.

Respond When the Team Needs Support

To determine how to address something that will upset one or more employees, people leaders should consider whether it is a topic appropriate for a team-wide discussion or better suited for 1:1 check-ins and, if needed, reference relevant employee benefits and programs that may be shared in those conversations.

Seek Additional Support

To effectively manage through what’s to come in 2024, people leaders should seek the input of peers they trust or colleagues in supporting functions, such as HR, Employee Communications, Legal and Labor Relations (if applicable).