#CoveringtheCoverage: Feast week is a television famine for women's basketball

I JUST WANT TO WATCH WBB ON TV, WHY IS IT SO HARD???

Hi, friends. Welcome back to Power Plays, a no-bullshit newsletter about sexism in sports. If you’re celebrating Thanksgiving, I wish you lots of delicious food, non-judgmental companionship, and stretchy pants. (Actually, I wish those things for you if you’re not celebrating Thanksgiving, too! They’re universal.)

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Okay, friends. Let’s do this.

Thanksgiving is *still* a long, lost holiday weekend for women’s basketball

The week of Thanksgiving, many men’s and women’s college basketball teams participate in mini-tournaments (sometimes called “events” or “invitationals”). These mini-tournaments usually feature four or eight teams in one location — often a tropical place, such as the Bahamas or Cancun. Teams compete in a bracket format, but unlike a March Madness knockout bracket, the losing teams play one another to determine who gets third place, fourth place, fifth place, and so on. It’s guaranteed games against quality, non-conference opponents, with no travel involved between games. The appeal is obvious, and I’m not sure why I’m overexplaining it. Moving on!

This part of the basketball calendar is called “Feast Week,” and there are always thrilling matchups on the men’s and women’s sides.

Battle4AtlantisOfficial @B4AOfficial

Camryn Brown steal, Charisma Osborne dime, Gina Conti bucket ✅ #Battle4Atlantis UCLA: 53 Marquette: 51

The problem? The men’s games are splattered all over television, while the women’s games are not.

Let’s look at the numbers on what I would consider the “official Thanksgiving weekend” of Thursday (11/24) through Sunday (11/27):

• ESPN television networks — ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN News — will air 48 men’s college basketball games, compared to only eight women’s games.

• When I expand the count beyond just ESPN networks, there will be 63 men’s college games on television this Thanksgiving weekend, compared to 11 women’s games. (I included games aired on CBS Sports Network, Fox Sports 1 & 2, as well as conference-specific channels, such as the SEC and ACC Networks.)

Kim Adams, a basketball analyst that works for Fox College hoops, tweeted about the discrepancy earlier this week — by her count, from Monday through Friday of this week, 86 men’s games were televised nationally, compared to only eight women’s games.

Kim Adams @Kim_Adams1

Based on the ESPN schedule of Division I games, here is the breakdown of how many men’s and women’s college basketball games will be nationally televised between Monday 11/21 - Friday 11/25: Men: 86 Women: 8

So, where are the women’s games being aired? Well, they’re predominantly sequestered on an expensive streaming service, FloSports, that does not typically air women’s basketball. A subscription to FloHoops costs $30 per month or $150 per year. That’s a lot of money, especially considering dedicated sports fans usually already pay for cable and sports-package upgrades.

Now look, as I’m sure you expect, this is nothing new! I covered this exact issue three years ago here, right here in Power Plays.

In 2019, I calculated that 55 men’s college basketball games were televised on ESPN networks over Thanksgiving weekend, compared to zero women’s games. In fact, I could only count three women’s games, period, that were televised at all during 2019 Feast Week — one on Fox Sports Southwest, and two on the SEC Network.

Women's college basketball's long, lost holiday weekend

So yeah — I guess we can say things have gotten a *tad* better over the past few years, but you’ll excuse me if I’m keeping my pom poms in the closet.

Over at Yahoo Sports, Cassandra Negley wrote about why this is a problem.

[A]ll it takes is to read through holiday tournament schedules and news pages to feel the constant inequality in men's and women's basketball smacking you in the face. Much like the 2021 NCAA tournaments played in bubble environments, the Thanksgiving week tournaments provide an easy comparison from one side to the other. As parity grows in the women's game, as No. 1 recruits pick schools outside of current powerhouses, and as the talent level continues to rise, this inequality deserves to be called out when seen. Because most in the game know it and see it, just as they knew and saw how different the NCAA tournaments were well before that bubble year.

Negley adds that FloHoops is a “hurdle for most to watch the games at a time in the calendar when fans can introduce their families to it just by having it on in the room,” and concludes: “It all adds up and it's why the growth of women's sports continues to be artificially restricted.”

So, what can we do about this? Well, I do think that raising awareness of these inequities helps. So, share this newsletter, Kim’s tweets, and Negley’s work to help spread the word. Also, tune in when you can. If you can afford a FloHoops subscription, you’re going to be spoiled with great women’s basketball over the next few days. If you can’t afford it, make sure to tune into the games when they’re on television. And if your family is in town for the holiday, make it a family affair.

Negley has a full breakdown of the Feast Week schedule over at Yahoo, so check it out and plan your schedule accordingly.

I’m so, so grateful for you all. Please subscribe to Power Plays so I can keep this work going. And keep an eye on your email over the long weekend — there might be a Black Friday deal or two headed your way.