Even casual observers of NCAA women’s basketball understand how University of Iowa women’s basketball star Caitlin Clark has helped elevate the sport across the country.
But we’re afraid that Ms. Clark isn’t getting the full credit she deserves.
Consider the new $920 million media rights deal between the NCAA and ESPN. The new eight-year deal is worth more than $115 million annually — higher than previously estimated.
The new deal will be effective Sep. 1, 2024 and runs through 2032. It will include the rights to 40 NCAA championships — 21 women’s and 19 men’s events — as well as exclusive championship coverage of all rounds for women’s basketball, women’s volleyball, women’s gymnastics, softball, baseball and FCS football. It also provides international rights to the 40 championships and the Division I men’s basketball championship.
It has been highlighted that the agreement will provide more exposure and revenue to women’s sports, specifically women’s basketball.
It’s clear that this deal wouldn’t be as big without the star power of Ms. Clark, who has become a generational figure.
According to ESPN, the gritty battle for last year’s women’s college basketball championship between LSU and Iowa drew an average of 9.9 million viewers, making it the most viewed NCAA women’s basketball final in television history.
And Iowa’s regional final with Louisville collected an eye-popping 2.49 million viewers, larger than any of last season’s NBA games on ESPN, according to a news report.
So we are hoping that audiences and the public in general will not only appreciate Ms. Clark’s remarkable basketball skills, but also thank her for how she has helped transform an entire sport.
20 years and counting
When John and Aspen Lohman founded this publication in their basement in 2004, the media landscape was much different.
Daily newspapers were still thriving, the iPhone was not yet created, and a new business called TheFacebook, later renamed just Facebook, was just getting off the ground in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The creative destruction that has ensued in the media industry over the past 20 years has challenged many business models, but it has helped further solidify the business journal business model — something the Lohmans have astutely replicated.
According to a report published by Penelope Muse Abernathy from the University of North Carolina, the years between 2004 and 2014 were pivotal for the newspaper industry, reversing the good fortune of the previous decade when advertising revenue and profits spiked, while circulation declined very slowly.
With the 20th anniversary of this family-owned media company, instead of lauding Mr. and Mrs. Lohman, we will instead be examining how the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Corridor region has evolved over the past 20 years and where leaders want the region to go over the next 20 years with a special magazine and event titled the Future of the Corridor in July.
We are also excited to celebrate the 20th annual Women of Influence awards with a gala in May and the Forty Under 40 awards dinner in October.
We thank you for your readership and support.
