The realm of college softball is producing fans at a rapid rate and one of the biggest driving forces remains Patty Gasso and the Oklahoma Sooners. Known for an explosive offense, viewers from all walks of life tuned in to catch a glimpse of the program. This is clearly evidenced by the 901,000 people turning the tube to ABC during the Norman Super Regional to watch Oklahoma and Washington square off. A look inside the numbers reveals that the pairing was the second most-watched Super Regional game of the past decade.
Riding the momentum into Oklahoma City and the Women’s College World Series, the Sooners once again found themselves paving the way in terms of viewership. While game one of the tournament may have ended in defeat for Gasso on the field, the contest between OU and James Madison drew in 620,000 sets of eyeballs. It was a 20% increase over 2019’s game one.
It doesn’t stop there though. Eventually making it into the Championship Series against 2018’s WCWS Winner, the Florida State Seminoles, it wasn’t the matchup many were hoped to witness. Still, it did not deter fans from tuning in as an average of 1,840,000 people caught the three game series. Again, this marked an increase of 15% in terms of viewership over 2019’s Championship Series between Oklahoma and the UCLA Bruins.
With the interest level continuing to rise year after year, when will the NCAA step up to the plate and offer instant replay and decrease the number of disparities between the men’s game/venues and the women’s game/venues?