MINNEAPOLIS — The popularity of women's sports will, no doubt, have a moment Wednesday night in Minnesota.
That's when Caitlin Clark and her Iowa Hawkeyes basketball teammates take on the Minnesota Gophers at Williams Arena. You can watch all of the action at 8 p.m. on Peacock.
The game may be sold out, but this explosive growth of women's sports isn't some passing trend. Experts say investing in female athletes is scoring big wins all around.
"People can’t avoid Caitlin Clark because she’s everywhere, right," said Jillian Hiscock, owner of A Bar of Their Own. "She really is a pretty freaking generational talent."
Hiscock's new endeavor is the first bar dedicated to women's sports in the state, modeled after The Sports Bra that opened a couple years ago in Portland, Oregon. It will open Friday at noon.
"These people frequenting this place have been looking for something like this to exist for years," said Hiscock. "I think we're set up in the right time and place, as well."
The explosion of women's sports makes sense — in part due to Clark who's setting shooting records and selling out arenas.
"Caitlin Clark is an example of what happens when there's an investment in women's sport," said University of Minnesota Sport Sociology Assistant Professor Dunja Antunovic. She studies how sports impacts girls and women at the school's Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport.
"Change is not always linear, right, just because we see progress in some areas, that doesn't mean that change all together is happening," said Antunovic. "But it's important to note that there is interest in women's sports across demographic categories."
Women's major sports revenue should reach more than a $1 billion this year, which is three times what it was three years ago - proving it's profitable, but still largely inaccessible.
"We have to have every streaming service under the sun because that's where the games are currently being played," said Hiscock. "Which is what makes it so hard to be a casual women's sports fan and most people aren't going to do that."
Starting this weekend, though, you can count on Hiscock to help continue to create not just a moment, but a movement.
"It's absolutely acknowledging where we've come, but not settling for where we're at," she said.
It's important to note the rise of women's sports isn't isolated, especially in Minnesota - from the Lynx, that are four-time champions to the new pro-hockey and soccer teams that all draw crowds and ratings.