ABC panel for National Title game broadcast.
Basketball fans were not happy with the way ABC ended its broadcast of the women’s national title game on Sunday.
The South Carolina Gamecocks are the new women’s champions following a dominant display against the Iowa Hawkeyes that saw them cap off their undefeated season with an 87-75 win.
ABC and ESPN aired the game, with the latter providing an alternate cast featuring Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi. Fans watching on ABC were robbed of the postgame moments everyone enjoys after championship games, at least the ones who don’t back the losers on a given day.
The feed cut off just seconds into postgame programming. Elle Duncan was speaking while the feed abruptly cut away to a commercial and then unrelated programming. Fans could have still watched on ESPN, but they were never informed.
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Siewers took this as a slight on women’s basketball but most of them were just angry they didn’t get to see what happened in the moments after the game.
“Bad cutaway,” Front Office Sports’ Michael McCarthy wrote. “They went straight to local news. At least direct folks to ESPN.“
“I just don’t understand why Disney won’t embrace that sports helps their numbers and bottom line and let non-NFL sports get an opportunity on ABC,” HBCU Pulse’s Randall Barnes pointed out. “That access will ultimately help you!!!!“
You can check out some more reactions here:
Some fans said they didn’t have that issue, however.
Sunday’s National Title Game Must Have Done Some Record Numbers
Iowa games have attracted prime viewership throughout March Madness, and the national title game shouldn’t have been any different. Their win over LSU in the Elite Eight last Monday was the most-watched women’s college game and beat all MLB games and all save one NBA game from 2023.
The Hawkeyes brought in even more eyes in their win over UConn on Friday, garnering 14.2 million viewers.
The numbers aren’t out for Sunday’s final as yet, but one can well imagine how well it did. ABC ditching them a few seconds after a championship game, at least in most places, wasn’t a great look.
