President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff recently released their March Madness brackets.
White House spokesperson Rodericka Applewhaite, when asked about the fact that March Madness once only applied to the NCAA men’s division and now also applies to both tournaments, told the MSR: “During Women’s History Month, we celebrate the second year of the NCAA acknowledging in full that women’s college basketball has earned a legacy just as storied, inspiring, and star-studded as the men’s division.
“President Biden and Vice President Harris are encouraged that this version of March Madness may spur folks across all sports to literally level the playing field for women athletes,” she said..
A new poll says that women’s basketball is more popular than ever. Conducted March 15-18 among over 1,500 adults, the new Seton Hall Sports Poll found that almost all indicators are up for the women’s game compared to just a year ago.
Among sports fans, those who plan to watch the NCAA women’s tournament are up 10 points from last year (57% this year to 67% last year). Among avid fans, that number is up seven points from last year to 77%.
Daniel Ladik, the poll’s chief methodologist, said in a release, “It’s likely that viewer numbers for the women’s tournament will surpass all previous records.”
Due to the growing popularity of women’s sports, especially women’s basketball, Tom’s Sports Bar plans to showcase all the March Madness action, with a special focus on women’s hoops.
“We will feature all the games all day long,” noted Christina Jones, vice president of learning & development at Tom’s Watch Bars, which are located in several U.S. cities, including Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Sacramento, Houston, Orlando, Washington D.C., and the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut. It bills itself as “the ultimate sports-watching entertainment experience” for sports fans to watch televised sporting events.
“We have enough screens to be able to feature all of the games and highlight the women’s games as well,” continued Jones, who held a similar position for Dave & Buster’s (2021-22) before joining Tom’s last June.
Tom’s Watch Bars features at least 100 television screens. “We can program our TVs to get every game,” said Jones.
There is the excitement of women’s college basketball, especially at this time of year when everyone gets excited about March Madness. Jones said she wants Baylor to do well, as she has her alma mater on both brackets.
“We celebrate diversity and inclusion. We have a wide variety of diversity in our guests. We want to make sure we provide excellent food and drink, and an excellent viewing experience for all fans to come regardless of background and enjoy celebrating sport,” said Jones.