ESPN records most-watched softball season since 2015, viewership up 13% from 2023
As the 2024 NCAA softball tournament gets ready to begin this weekend, ESPN will look to continue its momentum from a strong regular season.
The network announced an impressive surge in viewership Wednesday, including a 13% increase from last year. As a whole, 2024 became the most-watched regular season across ESPN platforms since 2015, and two marquee games led the way.
Alabama’s April 20 victory over Arkansas drew the highest viewership of the season with 570,000 people tuning in for the 5-1 Crimson Tide victory. The Big 12 Championship between Oklahoma and Texas also had a strong showing with 563,000 viewers – the largest viewing audience for the game in ESPN history – as the Sooners defeated the Longhorns 5-1.
Full 2024 NCAA softball tournament bracket, schedule
ESPN will also carry the NCAA softball tournament, which gets underway this week with the Regional round from May 17-19. The Regionals are all double elimination ahead of the Super Regionals May 23-26. The winners of those best of three series will then head to the Women’s College World Series May 30 in Oklahoma City for a double elimination bracket to set up a best of three championship series.
Texas comes in as No. 1 seed in NCAA tournament
The entire SEC is in the field for this year’s tournament, as well as the two teams who will join the league next year in top-seeded Texas and No. 2 seed Oklahoma. In fact, this is the first time Patty Gasso and the Sooners missed out on the No. 1 seed in three years, and committee chair Kurt McGuffin said that was the case all season long as the group weighed the decision.
“I think we constantly had Texas in the No. 1 seed,” McGuffin said. “Sixteen top-25 wins, which is more than anybody else, and their non-conference strength of schedule with a lot of quality wins.”
Oklahoma, of course, is looking to defend its three straight titles and will begin that quest in the Norman Regional against Oregon, Boston University and Cleveland State. Texas’ path to the Super Regionals starts at McCombs Field with three other teams – Siena, Northwestern and St. Francis (Pa.) – in the Austin Regional.
As for why the entire SEC got in the Field of 64, McGuffin said Ole Miss’ quality wins during the year helped put the Rebels over the top and get all 13 teams into the bracket.
“Ole Miss had some top 25 wins that we consistently looked at throughout the whole field,” McGuffin said. “I think that’s what put them in. It was tight. The last four. It seemed like we put more teams in this year because we didn’t have any bracket busters. But Ole Miss deserved that spot with the quality of wins they had in the top half.”