2023 was a big year for Women in sports, with many new records set and broken throughout the year in a multitude of sports.
Additionally sports media coverage of women’s sports had tripled in the US: In October, a new study of women’s sports showed that the share of women’s sports media coverage in the US increased to 15% in 2022 – up from about 5% in 2018.
Women’s Volleyball Attendance Record
Nebraska and Omaha shattered the all-time record for DI women’s college volleyball attendance when 92,003 fans packed Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska, home of the Cornhuskers football team, on Aug. 30, 2023
Women’s Cricket New Attendance Records
The Women’s World Cup held across Australia and New Zealand set a new attendance record with a total of 1,997,824 spectators across 64 matches. This averages out to approximately 31,000 fans per game, which is almost 10,000 higher than the average attendance seen during the 2019 tournament in France.
The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 was the most watched ICC women’s event to date with global viewing hours for the event reaching 192 million hours, a 44% increase from the 2020 World Cup in Australia highlighting the continued and growing appetite for women’s cricket in line with the ICC’s strategic priority
FIFA Women’s World Cup Revenue & Attendence Record
The FIFA 2023 Women’s World Cup generated the most revenue in tournament history, raking in $570 million. Over 1.9M football fans attended the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, shattering the previous attendance record of 1.35M in Canada in 2015.
WNBA Records Broken
Seattle Storm guard Jewell Loyd set a WNBA single-season scoring record with 939 points. The record was previously held by Loyd’s former teammate, Breanna Stewart, at 919 points.
The 2023 WNBA Finals ended the season on a high note, boasting record viewership. The 2023 regular season WNBA attracted 36 million unique viewers and averaged 505,000 viewers per game, signifying a 27% and 8% increase, respectively, from the previous year
Tennis: Gauff Thrills 3.4M people to set new ESPN Viewership Record
3.4M people tuned in to watch Coco Gauff win the 2023 US Open making it the most-viewed Major Women’s Championship ever aired on ESPN. Gauff defeated Aryna Sabalenka, the world #1 at the time, to win her first Major.
Marathons: New World Record Time
Tigst Assefa set the new world record marathon time at the BMW Berlin Marathon September 24, 2023 , finishing the race with a time of 2:11:53. Assefa is the only woman in history to run a marathon in under 2:12 , besting the previously set record by over two minutes.
