This year’s women’s March Madness has broken a nearly two-decade-old attendance record, with more fans present at first and second-round games than ever before. The games, which were hosted by the tournament’s top 16 seeds, brought in 216,890 spectators across 32 sessions – topping the previous high of 214,290. That previous record had stood since 2004, when opening round sites were selected in advance in order to maximise attendances, while also removing the advantage of playing at home for higher-seeded teams. For the past couple of years, crowds at March Madness have been impacted by the pandemic, but there have still been notable signs of growth. Indeed, the first-round women’s game between Tennessee and Middle Tennessee on ABC last year generated the biggest audience of women’s first-round games since 2010. Similarly, the UConn Huskies’ matchup against Baylor in the Elite Eight in 2021 earned 1.7 million average viewers on ESPN, which was a 32 percent increase from UConn’s game at the same stage in 2019. Now, with packed crowds once again permitted, fans have flocked in their thousands to watch these rising female basketball stars do battle on court. And so far, there have already been some historic matches. Creighton stunned number two seed Iowa at a sold-out Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Speaking afterwards, Iowa star Caitlin Clark said it was a “wonderful opportunity” for women’s basketball, despite her side’s defeat. Creighton coach Jim Flanery also described the crowd size as “surreal” and said it was a tribute to the sport. The current favourites to win this year’s March Madness are South Carolina, Stanford, NC State and Louisville South Carolina have the lowest odds among the bookmakers, with the likes of Baylor and UConn also favoured highly. 

Stanford are the reigning champions, having beaten Arizona 54-53 in a final attended by more than 4,000 people at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. 

Hayley Jones scored 17 points for Stanford in the final and was named the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player. 

On April 13th, 2021, the Santa Clara Cruz City Council declared that April 4th would be known as ‘Haley Jones Day” in recognition of her athletic accomplishments.