Women's sports are having a moment, but that moment started long ago at Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — Women's gymnastics has spoiled University of Utah fans.

Long before women's sports saw a surge in popularity, Utah fans have watched and supported some of the best female athletes in the country. Former Red Rocks head coach Greg Marsden worked tirelessly to make gymnastics in the state of Utah — and around the country — an event; and after years of work, the fans bought in.

His effort worked.

Since the 2010 season, the Red Rocks have averaged over 14,300 fans a meet and have led all NCAA women's sports in attendance 11 times. Most impressive, the Red Rocks have had 57 meets with over 14,000 fans and 31 meets with over 15,000 fans. The team also holds the NCAA gymnastics attendance record for a meet with 16,019 fans against Michigan.

Even in a record-setting season for women's sports last year, the Red Rocks led the charge and averaged the most attendance (13,427) of all women's sports for the season, beating out South Carolina basketball (12,942), LSU gymnastics (12,123), Iowa basketball (10,915) and Alabama gymnastics (10,915).

Utah fans have been a witness to greatness in women's sports for several decades.

"It's been a fabric for years — decades — that if you bring in women and you surround them with the support they see, then everybody else can can see that," Utah athletic director Mark Harlan told KSL.com recently in a wide-ranging interview. "So our teams have been really successful because of that, and now we're seeing this in so many different portions of the organization."

Just last season, the Red Rocks made history and won their third straight Pac-12 championship; the women's basketball team hosted the NCAA Tournament and earned a Sweet 16 bid before narrowly falling to eventual national champion LSU; softball won a Pac-12 championship, hosted the NCAA Tournament, and earned its first College World Series berth since 1994.

The women on Utah's ski team were integral in the university rallying to its fourth consecutive NCAA national championship, track and field athletes Simone Plourde and Emily Venters won Pac-12 titles, and several other teams continued their competitive streaks to lift the university to a 28th place finish in the Learfield Director's Cup — the highest for Utah in the award's existence.

To Harlan, having the blueprint laid by the Red Rocks has made it easier for women's sports to take center stage over the years and not just as a recent flash in the pan moment now en vogue around the country. The model was already built at Utah, and many other programs within the department have benefited from that success.

"If you look at gymnastics, what they were able to accomplish, it just sends a signal to everybody," Harlan said. "And I think that's why we're defending so many championships. But what has been really rewarding is to see the fans buy into all that, certainly with gymnastics through the years, through the decades, but now the surge in season tickets with Lynne's team.

"And, of course, the nation is also seeing a surge in this, the ratings are seeing a surge in this," he added. "But it's been pretty cool that we've had such a great platform at Utah of successful female teams, so now it's just something we've known how to do for a while, and now we're just helping them get better, and it's been really rewarding."

Women's sports are having a moment, and one that many hope will endure.

Just last season, the women's basketball national championship game had 10 million people watch, up 103% from the previous season, according to Nielsen data. In the fall, Nebraska volleyball set an NCAA record with 92,003 fans in attendance to watch Omaha take on Nebraska.

Even last week, a regular season college basketball matchup between South Carolina and LSU had better ratings than an NBA game between the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics playing at the same time.

Women's sports are growing in popularity and interest, and the often bemoaned name, image and likeness — which often gets confused, sometimes for good reasons, for pay-for-play inducements to athletes — may have helped the cause. If anything, it's introducing more people to women's athletics that may not have otherwise been interested.

Many of these deals have connected people with athletes, and in turn has led people to have more interest in the athlete's life and the sport they play. Just look at the Who Rocks the House Collective that is the self-proclaimed "only NIL collective exclusively" supporting Red Rocks gymnasts, or the Crimson Collective, who helped make it possible for female athletes to have access to the same opportunities as football players.

Each has brought female athletes more into the spotlight.

"I just think that people are recognizing what amazing people they are," Harlan said. "I think that if you look at the NIL era, how if you invest in them — those that are investing in the gymnastics collective and getting to know our student-athletes, whether they're corporations or people are like, 'Wow, what have I been missing?

"Same with women's basketball. I mean, get to know Alissa Pili. I've told people, you get these rare moments to watch greatness come through your buildings, and it goes fast. And when Alissa decided to come back, I mean, what an opportunity for the Utes, but what an opportunity for the community. I mean, she amazing, but as a person, she's even way better than she is as a basketball player, which is saying stuff."

Charmelle Green, a former University of Utah softball player and now current deputy athletic director and chief operating officer, said increased exposure to the product has only enhanced people's desire to watch women's sports. The more mainstream these sports became and the more readily available they are to the public helps immensely.

"More people are coming out and saying, 'I want to see this. I want to see what's — I want to drink the Kool Aid,'" Green joked. "When you don't differentiate and try to separate, it breaks down the barrier. Now you're seeing it all; you're seeing women and men, you don't have to miss out and you don't have to say that women are less than the men.

"That's opened the eyes of sports enthusiast to how exciting it is to watch talented women compete at the highest level," she added. "It's so much fun. I mean, women are badass. ... It is unbelievable, and there's no turning back."

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For Utah women's basketball coach Lynne Roberts, the recent popularity is as simple as people starting to pay more attention; and once they catch on, there's no turning back.

"I think the grass grows where it's watered, and so any way that our sport can get attention — eyes on it, and that's what I mean by attention — it's going to grow, because it's a good product," Roberts told KSL.com days after her team's Sweet 16 exit from the NCAA Tournament last season.

And none of that takes away from the men; if anything, the two supplement each other to further showcase talented athletes.

"It's not let's take from the men so the women can have it," Roberts said. "There's just as many girls in the country as there are boys, so the opportunity should be the same because of what we know sports can do for girls. So I think there's just been a little bit more of a cultural awakening in terms of girls can be athletes, and girls can be fun to watch, and girls can be aggressive and competitive, and all those things, and still be girls.

"We're not competing with one another; it's a different product. I don't want to take anything from anybody in men's basketball, but why can't we both be swimming in the same deep waters?"

Roberts' point was proved true when the NCAA opted to change the March Madness moniker — the same applies for the College World Series — to include both men's and women's basketball. Neither product suffered at the expense of the other; instead, both grew as independent and successful entertainment products for fans to get excited about in the postseason.

In return, there were more conversations and coverage about the talent in women's sports. And that's the point, Green stressed.

"I think we've got to continue to be intentional about having dialogue and conversations and evaluating where we can get better, and challenging ourselves to not stay stuck," Green said. "Looking at the data, what does that data tell us? How we benefit from those changes that have been made to now have 7 million on any given day watching a softball game, 9 million watching a basketball game. That is significant."

It's certainly been significant for the female athletes that make up the various athletic teams at the University of Utah.

And whether he knew it at the time or not, Marsden is a big reason for Utah's success in female sports — not just in gymnastics.

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