NCAA President Charlie Baker said television ratings for the NCAA women’s volleyball tournament are up “100%” this year during an interview on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show” on Thursday.
The increase comes just a year after the 2023 tournament saw a 115% increase over 2022.
“This year the ratings also grew a little bit, another 100%,” Baker boasted during the interview. “People love to see competition. People love to see young people compete, and we need to stop talking about sports other than football and basketball as ‘unprofitable.'”
Baker celebrated the increase in viewership ahead of Thursday night’s semifinals, when Pittsburgh takes on Louisville and Penn State takes on Nebraska.
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This year’s tournament nearly featured San Jose State amid a national controversy that overshadowed much of the college volleyball season. San Jose State volleyball player Brooke Slusser has an active lawsuit against the NCAA and is leading another lawsuit with several other players against the Mountain West Conference.
The lawsuits allege that Slusser and other players were forced to compete with transgender player Blaire Fleming without ever being told Fleming’s natural birth sex. The controversy and the transgender athlete’s continued presence on the team throughout the season resulted in the loss of seven regular season games and one conference tournament semifinal.
SJSU TRANSGENDER VOLLEYBALL SCANDAL: TIMELINE OF ALLEGATIONS, POLITICAL IMPACT AND A FURIOUS CULTURAL MOVEMENT
It was a series of losses unprecedented in sports history. The reaction to the situation resulted in a threat against Slusser and added police protection for the team at all home and away games this year, Pak Gazette Digital previously reported.
The controversy even drew criticism from Donald Trump during a Pak Gazette town hall in October.
San Jose State previously confirmed to Pak Gazette Digital that the team did not notify any opponents on its schedule about the situation involving Fleming throughout the season unless it was coordinating police protection.
The inclusion of the transgender player was even challenged in court. Slusser and other players involved in his lawsuit tried to have Fleming removed from the Mountain West tournament.
Transgender SJSU player Blaire Fleming, left, and teammate Brooke Slusser went to a magic show and celebrated Thanksgiving together in Las Vegas despite an ongoing lawsuit over the fact that Fleming was transgender . (Thien-An Truong/San Jose State Athletics)
Colorado District Judge Kato Crews allowed Fleming to play in the tournament, ruling that the plaintiffs’ request for an emergency delay was “unreasonable” and “risked confusion and would disrupt months of planning and harm, at least, [San Jose State] and other teams participating in the tournament.”
So Fleming, Slusser and the other SJSU Spartans went to Las Vegas for the tournament and even earned a first-round bye by virtue of six conference games lost by their opponents.
Boise State had already lost two regular-season meetings to San Jose State amid controversy because the university’s home state of Idaho has an executive order banning transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports. Then, after Boise State beat Utah State in the quarterfinal round, the Broncos lost for the third time in the semifinal to send San Jose State to the championship game.
San Jose State University Spartans head coach Todd Kress talks to reporters after a loss in an NCAA Mountain West women’s volleyball match against the Colorado State University Rams in Fort Collins, Colorado, October 3, 2024. (Santiago Mejía/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
Colorado State defeated San Jose State in the finals, keeping Fleming and the Spartans out of the NCAA tournament.
Following that game, Spartans head coach Todd Kress provided a statement to Pak Gazette Digital.
“Each forfeiture announcement unleashed horrific, hateful messages that individuals chose to send directly to our student-athletes, our coaching staff and many associated with our program,” Kress said.
