MHSAA says girls sports helped drive attendance growth: What the numbers show

Posted by Admin January 8, 2025 Sports

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Attendance for Michigan High School Athletic Association tournaments surpassed 1.4 million for the 2023-24 school year, with the organization crediting growing interest in girls sports for the continued growth.

“These numbers back up something that we’ve seen with our eyes for a long time and that’s exciting,” MHSAA Communications Director Geoff Kimmerly said. “It’s exciting to see people checking in to the wide variety of events that we host.”

The MHSAA said in December that 471,651 fans attended girl sport competitions, according to a release from the group, beating a previous record set in 2014-15. Attendance at more than a half dozen girls tournaments set records in 2023-24.

MSHAA tournament events in 2023-24 drew 1,449,574 spectators overall, down less than 1 percentage point from the 2022-23 school year, but still the second highest overall postseason attendance over the past seven years.

“A lot of times people say that what happens at the professional level trickles down to the college level, then to the high school level and maybe that’s part of what you see here,” said Kimmerly of the increasing interest in girls sports.

Among professional women’s athletics, the New York Liberty’s WNBA finals victory was among the fourth most watched finals game in league history. It also was the most watched WNBA game this decade, drawing 2.15 million viewers on ESPN, according to reporting from Front Office Sports.

The WNBA has seen growing interest with the emergence of Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, who have led to an increase in viewership and growth in WNBA viewing.

Could this have led to a trickledown effect in H.S girls sports? Kimmerly thinks so, although he says girls sports in Michigan have always had support.

The MHSAA did not include numbers the fall 2024 sports season, or for regular season events in the state. Here’s a look at the MHSAA’s report.

Football remains the most-watched high school tournament sport

Football remains the most-attended MHSAA tournament sport and drew 363,563 spectators for its 2023 playoff series — a decrease of nearly 5% from the previous year, but the total included the highest attendance during the semifinal rounds (32,596) since 2012-13.

What else does the MHSAA report show?

Boys 2024 basketball tournament attendance again ranked second at 280,800 fans, down 4% from the previous year, but with increases for the regional and quarterfinal rounds.

Girls basketball remained third for overall attendance, and first among girls sports, followed again by volleyball — which drew 113,239 fans. Girls basketball’s overall postseason attendance was up for the third-straight year to 158,126 fans for a 9% increase from 2022-23.

Softball set an overall tournament record in 2024 with 49,636 fans, topping the previous record set just the year before by nearly 2,000, and also set an individual-round record with 4,935 fans at quarterfinals.

Track & Field — with girls and boys competing together — drew a record 42,899 spectators, and a regional record of 25,661. Both track totals bested previous records set during the 2020-21 school year.

Other sports also showed attendance increases

The individual wrestling tournament drew 48,237 fans, an 8% increase from the previous season, and set records at the district (13,308) and regional (11,089) levels.

Overall attendance for competitive cheer (29,297, up 12%), girls lacrosse (5,627, up 6%), boys lacrosse (17,107, up less than 1%) and boys swimming & diving (6,116, up 33%) all were up as well from 2022-23.

Competitive cheer’s increase was keyed in part by record attendance at the district level (14,528).

Baseball districts (36,553), boys lacrosse quarterfinals (3,021) and girls diving regionals (879) also set records.

How many people watched the WNBA in 2024?

The WNBA said it delivered its most-watched regular season in 24 years, finished with its highest attendance in 22 years and set records for digital consumption and merchandise sales in 2024.

CBS Sports had its most-watched regular season ever with an average of 1.10 million viewers, up 86% from 2023, as well as the most-streamed season ever on Paramount+. ION averaged 670,000 viewers — up 133% from last season. NBA TV more than quadrupled its viewership from 2023 and had its 13 most-watched WNBA games ever.

The WNBA had its highest total attendance in 22 years (2,353,735), up 48% from 2023. The league’s 154 sellouts marked a 242% increase from last season (45). The WNBA averaged 9,807 fans per game, up 48%.

Jalen Williams is a trending reporter at the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at jawilliams1@freepress.com.