USC athletes, students and fans are no stranger to the evolution and impact of the sports media industry. Most recently, Fox Sports’ impending television investment into the Big Ten encouraged USC to abandon the Pac-12 and uproot the University’s athletic programs from its longstanding history with the conference. This move prompted a wave of anomalies in streaming, broadcasting, and viewership that is continuing to swell across the sports world.

Here are some predictions for what will go down in sports media this year.

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Women’s March Madness shatters expectations and matches the Men’s audience

The NCAA agreed to an eight-year deal with ESPN Jan. 4, enclosing the rights to the March Madness tournament. In the contract, the women’s basketball championship is valued at $65 million, approximately 10 times more than its current value under the deal that ends with the 2023-24 season.

This evaluation followed the 2023 national championship which, according to The New York Times, averaged 9.9 million viewers — the most watched women’s college basketball game to date. In contrast, the men’s championship game averaged a record low of 14.7 million viewers; four of the least watched men’s basketball championships have been played since 2018.

Given the proven ability for star-studded teams like Iowa, LSU, UofSC, Stanford or even USC to crack the championship game, this will be the year the women’s national title game dunks on the men’s with an average of over 12 million viewers.

Tom Brady drops in on the USC-Michigan football broadcast

Arguably the greatest quarterback of all-time Tom Brady, inked a 10-year, $375 million contract with FOX Sports in May 2022 to be the networks lead NFL analyst directly following his playing career. Although Brady was absent from the booth this regular season, his voice will boom above the field in the upcoming season — perhaps not for a full decade, but he’ll give it a try.

Now, FOX Sports is the front-runner to broadcast the Trojans’ Big Ten opener in Ann Arbor against Michigan — Brady’s alma mater. Don’t be surprised when Brady drops in on the broadcast of the regular-season edition of the Rose Bowl rivalry.

College World Series knocks viewership out of the park for the second straight year

Last summer, the CWS blew Nielsen estimates away with record-setting viewership numbers. Game 3 of the Men’s CWS Final between LSU and Florida more-than-doubled the previous year’s audience with an average of 3.6 million viewers on ESPN — the largest CWS audience on the network. According to Sports Business Journal, the Women’s CWS averaged 1.1 million viewers, up 6% from the year prior despite having two fewer games.

Consistency in the contenders for the Men’s and Women’s CWS have been the draw for such large audiences. An SEC school has been represented in every Men’s CWS finale since 2017 and Oklahoma softball boasts a 176-8 record and three national championships over the past three seasons. Viewership will continue to soar as audiences are enthralled by the SEC’s prolonged baseball success and by challengers to the Sooners’ dynasty.

NBA strikes multi-billion dollar TV deal between four partners

The NBA’s existing deal with ESPN and Turner Network Television expires at the end of the 2024-25 season and the league is expecting the deal to increase by threefold to $75 billion. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is looking to balance streaming and traditional media with the revamped contract.

Potential partners such as Apple, Google and Netflix will hold out as TNT and ESPN secure the majority of NBA games. Amazon Prime will own the rights to the NBA’s In-Season Tournament and broadcast the program like “Monday Night Football.” Finally, NBC’s Peacock will acquire 10 games, reminiscent of the beloved “NBA on NBC” from the ’90s.

ESPN’s Andraya Carter is promoted to NBA Countdown analyst

Carter was one of the last Tennessee women’s basketball players to compete under Pat Summit. Following her collegiate basketball career, Carter has worked as college basketball, WNBA, and NBA G League analyst, Brooklyn Nets studio analyst, SEC College Football sideline reporter and an OrangeTheory instructor. Carter has also worked on ESPN’s live NBA Draft telecast.

By the thick of the 2024-25 NBA season, Carter will be featured as an analyst on NBA Countdown, entering her into the small circle of female sports analysts on ESPN.

Olympics make a comeback in Paris

Since 2018, the Olympics have hit a major viewership slump. The past three games have each reset the lowest-recorded primetime audience for the Olympics on NBC.

Paris will provide the perfect backdrop to reignite interest in the celebration of international sport. In the United States, the games will be aired live in the afternoon — a much more palatable time than the past Olympics in East Asia. Additionally, the Olympics will offer a distraction from the heightened 2024 election coverage.

Feel free to circle back in December to see how I did.