The University of Iowa women’s basketball team will host an outdoor scrimmage at the school’s football venue, Kinnick Stadium, this season against DePaul, the program announced Thursday. Here’s what you need to know:
- The matchup, dubbed the “Crossover at Kinnick,” will take place on Oct. 15 at 3 p.m. local time in the nearly 70,000-seat stadium.
- Ticket proceeds from the event will benefit The University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital. In addition to the outdoor tickets that will go on sale later this month, a limited number of “rain or shine” tickets will be sold in case the game is forced to move indoors at Carver-Hawkeye Arena due to weather.
- Iowa, last season’s NCAA runner-up, features national player of the year Caitlin Clark and has become one of the biggest draws in women’s college basketball.
HAWK FANS YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO!!!😈🖤 See you all there !!! https://t.co/iPV38dFFcj
— Caitlin Clark (@CaitlinClark22) August 10, 2023
The Athletic’s instant analysis:
The Iowa women’s basketball team consists of local celebrities on a scale never seen before in the Iowa City area, and “Crossover at Kinnick” is yet another way for the program to market itself to a bigger, broader audience.
First, Iowa City officials staged a local celebration for the team in April and more than 10,000 fans showed up. The school had to halt season ticket sales because demand exceeded capacity. Then, the women’s team (and men’s) moved a non-conference game to Des Moines, of which both earned the same $125,000 guarantee. The Hawkeyes will play fellow Final Four team Virginia Tech in Charlotte, N.C., this season and will receive $200,000.
But there’s nothing like this. In 2015, the wrestling program held the “Grapple at the Gridiron” that attracted an NCAA-record 42,287 fans for a dual at Kinnick Stadium. This might only be an exhibition, but based on the women’s basketball obsession that has brewed in Iowa the last few years, it would not surprise if fans flocked in similar numbers to Kinnick to watch Caitlin Clark and company.
“We’re super excited to play in front of the best fans in the country inside Kinnick Stadium,” Iowa senior Gabbie Marshall said from the team’s foreign trip to Italy and Croatia. “We’re thankful to have an administration that gives us this platform to elevate our sport.” — Dochterman
Backstory
Last season, the Hawkeyes set the Big Ten record in average attendance at 11,142 and led the nation with eight games above 13,000 fans. At Big Ten road venues, Iowa’s nine opponents averaged 3,482 more fans than their season average.
Iowa announced in June it will meet Virginia Tech in the inaugural “Ally Tipoff” in Charlotte on Nov. 9. An ESPN network will televise the game.
The 2023 NCAA championship featuring Iowa and LSU hit 9.9 million viewers, which was up 103 percent from 2022 and was the most-viewed Division I women’s game in history. Five of the Big Ten Network’s six most-viewed women’s basketball games ever featured Iowa, and four took place last season.
Required reading
(Photo: Kirby Lee / USA Today)
