The Caitlin Clark Effect has made women’s basketball the hottest ticket around.

The scene was said to be “controlled chaos”.

Dozens of people lined the aisles and corners to get into Sports Bra in Portland, Oregon, the world’s first bar to feature only women’s sports, according to owner Jenny Newgen.

The fact that it was Monday noon didn’t stop the people’s emotions. Nor did it stop them from having a “triple” drink as usual.

They were there to see the best women’s college basketball playoff game between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the LSU Tigers, starring Kaitlyn Clark and Angel Reese.

From the sports bra crowd to the likes of LeBron James and Travis Scott, an audience of over 12 million viewers tuned in. This is the most watched college basketball game for both men and women.

“It was electric,” said Ms. Newgen, recalling the atmosphere when the University of Iowa beat Louisiana State University, in which Clark led the way with 41 points.

“I’ve been watching women’s basketball for decades. It seems like everyone is getting it … it’s time,” she added.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has been hosting a basketball tournament known as March Madness since 1939.

Over the course of three weeks, 68 of the best college teams lost to one champion.

The annual event is a media frenzy where millions of fans watch the games day and night.

For decades, that only applied to men’s competitions. Not anymore.

Ticket prices for this year’s Women’s Championship are on average twice as high as the men’s, reaching up to $11,000 (£8,736).

Part of the reason for this “watershed moment in women’s basketball,” according to Front Office Sports reporter Amanda Kristovich, is the birth of talent like Iowa’s Kaitlyn Clark.

Another push for gender equality in college sports has reached a new level, she said.

In the year In 2024, the NCAA signed a television deal with ESPN that values ​​the women’s tournament at $65 million a year, more than 10 times the previous amount. In less than five years, not even every game in the Women’s NCAA Tournament can be watched on national broadcasts.

The big stage gave a big platform to big stars. And Clarke — arguably the biggest name in the sport right now — is the main driver of the latest buzz.

The college senior scored more than 3,900 points in her career, more than any collegiate athlete, male or female, in NCAA history.

Caitlin Clark is a headline-grabbing, trash-talking, fan-favorite 22-year-old guard from Iowa who is one of the best players in college basketball history.

She wins games. Lots of games. It breaks records. Many records. And it filled stadiums with sold-out people eager to see her.

Many hope to see her famous long-range three-point shots.

Standing dozens of feet from the basket, she would sometimes easily hit the ball over her opponents’ heads in the middle of the court. The distance often defies the average range of a collegiate female player.

Clark recently broke the record for most three-pointers made in a season, a record previously held by professional player Steph Curry.

Her star power – with more than a million followers on Instagram – has attracted many new fans to the sport. People travel thousands of miles and spend thousands of dollars to see her.

The phenomenon of her influence has been dubbed the Caitlin Clark Effect.

Like Taylor Swift, her appearance not only drives up ticket prices, but also inflates hotel prices and nearby restaurant reservations.

“She’s a once-in-a-generation performer. She’s amazing. She’s viral,” Ms. Christovich said. “She’s the conduit through which a lot of people have discovered women’s college basketball this year.”

But, Ms. Kristovich added, “Would Kathleen Clarke have garnered the attention she’s getting now 20 years ago? Probably not.”

“And it’s not because she’s not good. It’s because people aren’t paying attention,” she said.

For decades, the women’s race “was treated as a secondary event,” Ms Kristovich said.

One example is that the women’s tournament is prohibited from using the NCAA’s trademarked March Madness logo until the 2022 season. And, until recently, it was also hard to find on TV, Ms. Kristovich said.

“The time that’s upon us is snowball building for the last generation or so,” says Kate Fagan, former University of Colorado basketball player and author of the book Hoop Bananas.

There were three major turning points over the decades.

First, in In the 1970s, the NCAA was forced to provide fair athletic opportunities for women when the federal law known as Title IX was implemented. Then in 1996, the creation of the Women’s National Basketball League gave young players a way to become professional athletes.

The third major booster arrived 20 years later with Tik Tok. In the year In 2021, a University of Oregon women’s basketball athlete released a video comparing NCAA Tournament training for women to that offered for men.

There were significant differences. The men’s facility featured exercise platforms adorned with exercises, barbells and weights that could go into the hundreds of pounds. The women’s facility had a single tower of 30-pound (14 kg) dumbbells and a few yoga mats. The video went viral.

An investigation by an outside law firm found that the NCAA “prioritises men’s basketball, contributes to gender inequity” and is “significantly undermining women’s basketball as an asset.”

The NCAA women’s tournament underwent a complete overhaul that included the use of March Madness branding. Another byproduct was the new media deal with ESPN, which now carries all the women’s March Madness games on multiple platforms.

“They’ve always been great players. But now more people are seeing them,” said Pamela Grundy, co-author of Shattering the Mirror, a novel about the history of women’s basketball.

“And to be honest, it’s a lot better than people think.”

But, she said, “Sports is not just about tickets, it’s about sponsors.”

In the year In 2021, a combination of state rules and NCAA rules opened up unprecedented opportunities for college athletes to make money by selling the rights to their name, image and likeness (NIL).

Six-figure endorsement deals painted by players — some as young as teenagers — soon followed. Famous brands like State Farm and Nike started collaborating with top athletes like Kathleen Clarke.

“There are a handful of female athletes who are making millions of dollars every year in the NIL,” said Blake Lawrence, founder and CEO of Opendorse.com, an NIL contracts platform.

National endorsement deals put athletes in front of more people, often in commercials and games broadcast on TVs across America.

And women benefit greatly from their presence on social media, which is a “huge part” of most NIL deals, Mr Lawrence said.

Still, women’s college basketball players remain held back by the NCAA structure in many ways, Ms. Kristovich said.

Each time men’s basketball teams advance to the rounds in the tournament, they can earn money for their conference. Not women’s groups.

For the top four teams in each of the men’s and women’s tournaments this year, that equates to a difference of nearly $40 million.

“What’s amazing about the success of women’s racing is that it’s happening despite the obstacles,” Ms Kristovich said.