Monday’s TV doubleheader put Iowa women in rough spot attendance-wise
By Pat Harty
IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Iowa men’s and women’s basketball teams were featured on the Big Ten Network in a Monday night doubleheader made especially for television.
For the home television viewer, it was the perfect setup as the Iowa men faced Penn State at 6 p.m. in State College, Pennsylvania, while the Iowa women hosted Ohio State at 8 p.m. at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
It was four hours of Hawkeye hoops starring Keegan Murray and Caitlin Clark, although, unfortunately for Hawkeye fans, Iowa lost both games.
At first glance, it might make sense to have the men and women play on the same night, and on the same network, because they can be featured together, and both teams can sort of feed off each other on a big stage because there is no bigger stage than television.
But there is also a downside to it in that television exposure, and the need to fill programming slots, comes at a price, and the Iowa women’s basketball team almost certainly paid that price Monday with attendance.
The 8 p.m. tip-off on a Monday night already was a tough sell for the women, as it is for the Iowa men’s team when it plays at 8 p.m. on a Monday.
But to have played the women’s game immediately after the men’s game caused another problem in that it undoubtedly kept some fans from attending the women’s game.
I know of one person who watched the first half of the men’s game before heading to Carver-Hawkeye Arena to watch the women’s game.
But this person also lives about three miles from Carver-Hawkeye Arena, so he was able to do both.
But for those who don’t live nearby, that wasn’t an option.
They either had to watch both games on television, which is obviously what those in television would prefer, or they had to miss watching the men’s game if they wanted to watch the women’s game in person.
The Iowa men and women both play three games this week and all three games are on the same day with games on Thursday and Sunday coming up for both teams.
And that’s just unfortunate, the downside to television’s vast influence.
Networks have to fill programming slots for each day of the week and college teams are basically at their mercy.
I was told by two people who attended the women’s game on Monday that there probably were between 3,000 and 4,000 bodies in the seats.
That’s pretty good under the circumstances, especially considering that some women’s teams rarely draw anywhere close to that many fans on any day of the week.
But imagine if the Iowa women wouldn’t have had to compete with the Iowa men for viewers because that is basically what occurred with Monday’s doubleheader setup.
The best doubleheader is when the Iowa men and women play back-to-back games at home because that makes it convenient not only for the television viewer, but also for those who prefer to watch in person.
However, that rarely happens.
This scheduling flaw is not unique to Iowa.
It’s widespread and here to stay as television continues to shape the viewing experience like never before.
The goal of television is to keep you watching from home, or from wherever there is a television. But that’s counterproductive to the challenge of getting fans to watch in person.