Say what one will about whether UConn’s dominance is good for the women’s game, but their stunning loss Friday night certainly was.
Mississippi State-UConn scored a 1.9 overnight rating in Friday’s Women’s Final Four on ESPN2, up 90% from Syracuse-Washington last year (1.0) and up 19% from UConn-Maryland on ESPN in 2015 (1.6), both of which aired on Sunday nights.
The Bulldogs’ last-second, overtime win peaked at a 2.7 from Midnight-12:15 AM ET.
The 1.9 overnight is tied as the highest for a Women’s Final Four game since Baylor-Stanford in 2012 (2.2), matching UConn-Notre Dame in 2013. Compared to last year’s UConn Final Four game, a blowout of Oregon State that aired in the early window on ESPN, it increased 12% from a 1.7.
Hartford led all markets with a 16.6 rating, no small feat given the game began after 10 PM local time, followed by Greensboro (4.8), Memphis (4.3), Knoxville (4.1) and Birmingham (3.8).
Earlier in the night, South Carolina-Stanford had a 1.0 overnight — down 42% from last year’s aforementioned UConn-Oregon State game, and down 23% from Notre Dame-South Carolina in 2015 (1.3), both of which aired on ESPN. The 1.0 is tied with Syracuse-Washington last year as the lowest for a Women’s Final Four game since at least 2008 (overnights prior to 2009 were not available).
(Fri. numbers from ESPN)
