ESPN drew a 3.1 overnight rating for UConn’s 79-58 win over Notre Dame in the NCAA women’s basketball championship game last night, marking the best figure for any women’s college game since ’04. The 3.1 also marks the fourth-best rating for a women’s title game since ’00. UConn-Notre Dame is up 48% from UConn’s blowout win over Louisville last year, which drew a 2.1 overnight. Last night’s game also is up from a 2.6 overnight for Baylor-Notre Dame in ’12 and up from a 2.3 overnight for Texas A&M-Notre Dame in ’11. Hartford-New Haven led all markets last night with a 29.3 local rating, which is up from a 22.5 rating in the market for last year’s title game. The top five markets last night were rounded out by Final Four host city Nashville (6.8), Knoxville (6.0), Louisville (5.5) and Indianapolis (4.8) (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor). ESPN's Tony Kornheiser prior to the game noted the comments made by UConn coach Geno Auriemma and Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw is "bringing eyeballs to the women's basketball championship." Kornheiser: "Primarily to see if pregame, halftime and postgame -- what are they going to do?" ("PTI," ESPN, 4/8).
