It’s March, which means college basketball is heating up and teams are preparing for March Madness, or the NCAA Division I tournament for women’s and men’s basketball programs. Last year, the women’s tournament set viewership records, with the national Championship game averaging 18.9 million viewers and peaking at 24 million, which was the most viewed college basketball game (men or women) on ESPN platforms. The increase in viewership has been tremendous, with 299% and 289% increases in Final Four and National Championship games since 2022, respectively. Meanwhile, the men’s tournament held stead with a 3% increase in viewership over 67 games, averaging 9.9 million viewers per game.
Looking at this year, anticipation is building towards the tournament. All year, games have set records in viewership, with multiple top-10 matchups on the women’s side garnering over 1 million viewers. The 2024-2025 women’s college basketball season is ESPN’s most watched in 16 years. Selection Sunday, March 16, is where the brackets and seeding for both tournaments will be revealed. Currently, conference tournaments are wrapping up, sending the winners as automatic qualifiers to the national tournament.
This week, we’re taking a look at some of our clients who will compete this year.
Baylor University
Both Baylor’s men’s and women’s programs are expected to be selected for their respective tournaments. The women’s team, ranked 14 in the AP poll, recently competed in the Big XII championship game, ultimately falling to TCU, 59-64. They last won the national championship in 2019, under head coach Kim Mulkey, who is now at LSU. The men’s team, unranked in the AP top 25, fell to Texas Tech in the Big XII quarterfinal, 74-76.
ESI recently completed a supplier diversity analysis and recommendations for the school, estimating diverse supplier utilization, benchmarking the university against peer institutions, and making recommendations to improve supplier diversity performance.
Clemson University
The Clemson University men’s team is ranked 10 in the AP poll and has advanced to the conference championship semifinal. The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is competitive, and contains number one ranked Duke University.
ESI completed an economic impact study for Clemson University and found that the school generates $6.4 billion in economic impact across South Carolina, which is $35 for every dollar the state invests.
University of Connecticut
The University of Connecticut (UConn) has a strong pedigree in both the men’s and women’s programs. The men’s team, which won back-to-back national titles in 2023 and 2024, is not currently ranked, but is expected to qualify for the tournament. The team will compete in the Big East Tournament semifinal today. The women’s team, which boasts a nation-leading 11 national championships (all under current head coach Geno Auriemma) but has not won one since 2016, is currently ranked number 3 by the AP poll, and just won their 23rd Big East Conference Championship.
ESI’s work for UConn looks at the potential impact of the Next Generation Connecticut Initiative (NextGenCT), a 10-year plan to enhance UConn’s capacity as a global leader in STEM, as well as an economic development engine and workforce development driver for the State of Connecticut. In addition to the potential impact of NextGenCT, ESI looked at the historical impact from two previous plans, as well as the impact of increased PILOT payments for the town of Mansfield.
University of North Carolina System
The University of North Carolina is a system with both men and women’s programs looking toward tournament play. The women’s team out of Chapel Hill is ranked 12th in the AP poll but fell in the ACC semifinal to the conference tournament runner-up, North Carolina State University.
The men’s team from UNC Wilmington secured an automatic qualifier spot by winning the CAA conference tournament. They defeated the underdog 12th seeded University of Delaware in the final 76-72.
The men’s team from UNC Chapel Hill has played well recently and will face Duke in the ACC semifinal today. Based on their performance and the performance of similarly ranked teams, they may make the “First Four,” which is the set of four play in games to determine the final teams in the national tournament.
In 2023, ESI completed an economic impact analysis of the University of North Carolina System Athletics. The system boasts many successful programs outside of basketball, including women’s soccer and field hockey. This included looking at programs from all 15 schools in the system. ESI found that the direct and spillover impacts generate $807 million in North Carolina and support 6,340 jobs (full time equivalent).
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish has a strong women’s program, which last won the title in 2018 with now retired head coach Muffet McGraw. They were ranked number one by the AP poll for one week, and were crowned co-winners of the regular conference season, but have lost three of their last five games, including falling 56-61 to eventual ACC conference tournament winners Duke in the semifinals.
ESI has completed several economic impact studies for the University of Notre Dame, most recently in 2024. In addition to economic impact studies, ESI also conducted a supplier diversity study for the school in 2021.
University of Wisconsin
The University of Wisconsin men’s team is ranked 18 in the AP poll and will likely compete in the national tournament. Wisconsin will compete in the Big 10 quarterfinal today, facing UCLA.
ESI has completed multiple economic impact studies for the University of Wisconsin-Madison athletics program, once in 2018, and an update in 2022. The Badgers have won a variety of team national championships across men’s and women’s rowing, ice hockey, as well as men’s cross country and track and field. The school also boasts individual national champions in different swimming, track and field, cross country, and wrestling events. ESI found that the athletics program generated $610 million annually across the state of Wisconsin in 2019 and had a tax revenue impact of $12 million.
There are contenders that are not ESI clients who are expected to have strong tournament runs. On the women’s side, UCLA, USC, Texas, and reigning champions South Carolina are expected to secure number one seeds. For the men, Auburn, Duke, Florida, and Houston are the projected number one seeds, but final seeding and brackets will be revealed on Selection Sunday, March 16. Tournament play will begin on March 18 for men and March 19 for women, with national championships taking place on April 7 and 6 respectively.
Good luck on those brackets!
Grace Hanoian | [email protected]
Grace Hanoian is a Business Development and Marketing Associate at Econsult Solutions, where she supports the marketing and business development team by assisting with proposals, events, and social media. Additionally, Grace has experience working on political campaigns both with communications and fundraising, as well as in state government.