Michael Young wanted to try something new. The Cape Elizabeth High School social studies teacher had long participated in a men’s college basketball tournament bracket pool organized by faculty, but he noticed there wasn’t an equivalent for the women’s tournament.

So in 2023, he got one started, but there was one problem: Faculty members were lining up to submit their men’s brackets, but for the women’s pool, Young had to become a recruiter.

“I kind of guilted (people) into it,” he said.

Young doesn’t have to do that anymore. Three years later, the pool has steadily grown, and now is at 23 compared to 26 for the men’s brackets.

“It gets a good vibe. We get people watching the women’s games that ordinarily wouldn’t,” Young said.

National data indicates that women’s basketball has seen a rise in interest, as viewership numbers show more people tuning in and following the action, which culminates Friday and Sunday with the Final Four and national championship game.

ESPN reported its first-round broadcasts of the NCAA tournament drew 401,000 viewers, a 9% increase from last year. The second round saw 1 million viewers, which is up 3% from last year and second all-time to only 2024, when Iowa star Caitlin Clark became a household name with her highlight-reel passing, flashy ballhandling and seemingly unlimited shooting range while leading the Hawkeyes to the national championship game.

More people are watching, and more are participating in the sport. ESPN also reported that its Tournament Challenge, the platform on which users can submit their brackets, drew 3.48 million women’s entries, up 1% from last year and 67% from 2023.

On the betting side, BetMGM last year reported a 35% increase in year-over-year money wagered on women’s college basketball. The sportsbook also said there was a 147% increase in bets on women’s college basketball and a 134% increase in betting handle (the amount of money wagered) between 2023 and 2024, which BetMGM public relations manager John Ewing said is directly tied to the “Caitlin Clark effect.”

“She’s really changed the interest in women’s basketball,” he said. Clark is the all-time leading scorer in NCAA Division I basketball — men’s and women’s — and was the No. 1 pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft.

Fans in Maine say they are seeing that rise in interest for themselves, whether it’s in friends and family members showing more attention to the sport or more opportunities to engage in its games.

The women’s game still lags well behind the men’s — ESPN has 26.6 million men’s brackets entered, compared to the 3.48 million for women. But after Clark provided the breakthrough jolt, the sport is continuing to show signs of growth.

“I still almost get choked up when I see these packed arenas for women’s basketball,” said Blaise Spath, an Auburn resident and retired music teacher at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School. “I’ve been watching since the days when there would be 75 people in the crowd. To see where it’s come is wonderful.”

Spath, who has followed women’s basketball since attending the University of Maine in the early 1980s, said he participated in men’s pools at work but lost interest and eventually stopped playing. Around three to four years ago, however, he started doing women’s brackets, testing himself on a sport he knew much better.

“I realized I had a pretty good understanding and awareness of the women’s game, and who was strong and all that,” he said. “I figured I should try to put that to work.”

For years, Spath said, a women’s bracket pool “wasn’t really a thing.” But as ESPN’s site began playing up its women’s tournament challenge more, Spath saw the fun in joining up.

“For a long time, I was kind of embarrassed to tell people that I was a fan of women’s basketball,” he said. “There are still the naysayers and the doubting Thomases and all that, but the fanbase has probably tripled, if not more.”

Skylar Cook has noticed the same dynamic. The Waynflete graduate and Elon University sophomore said she’s gone from a casual to a serious basketball fan, partly because she’s majoring in sports management. She fills out two men’s and women’s brackets — one with who she thinks will win, one with who she hopes will.

She used to be irritated by friends who would talk about men’s basketball and dismiss the women’s game.

“It still can be (frustrating),” she said. “The kind of general vibe was ‘Why are you watching women’s when you could be watching men’s?'”

Since Clark’s emergence, however, she’s noticed the conversation has changed. Friends who asked her who she picked in her men’s bracket are asking for her thoughts on the women’s tournament as well.

“They are definitely more knowledgeable than they used to be, in terms of knowing which players to pay attention to,” she said. “I think the primary motivation is probably betting, but whether they want to admit it or not, I think they do actually just enjoy watching for the sake of watching.”

Kelly Dubay, a 2009 Windham High graduate and former basketball player for the Eagles, remembers women’s sports not having much of a national presence. She said that isn’t the case anymore, which is why she’s been filling out women’s brackets for the last four years.

“It just wasn’t publicized like the men’s was,” said Dubay, who works at MaineHealth and who went to the women’s Final Four in Tampa, Florida, last year. “Now when you go online to fill out a men’s one, it’s easier to see women’s and show them both.”

It’s not just brackets. Dubay, who grew up going to Las Vegas because her father was stationed in the Air Force there, said she’s noticed that there are more opportunities to bet on women’s basketball than there used to be.

“Since I’ve been going to Vegas, they have the odds printed out every day of whatever may be happening. I would probably say 95% of the time, there was nothing women’s sports-related in that aspect,” she said. “The past few years, that has been definitely changing to having access to the women’s odds.”

At Oddfellahs in Portland, one of the state’s two in-person gambling parlors, Caesars Sportsbook manager Andrew Topham said that’s translated into more betting action on the women’s tournament.

“The men’s is still more popular, but there’s definitely been a large growth in the amount of people watching the women’s and betting it, and becoming more familiar with certain players and certain teams,” he said.

Topham said the tournament provides betting opportunities that the regular season doesn’t. Men’s basketball, meanwhile, has the same live bet options all season long.

“You can’t bet the quarters, you can’t bet the halves,” he said. “But for the tournament games, you can live bet the games as they’re going on. You can bet quarters, you can bet halves, you can bet player props for some of the (players).”

Ewing, the BetMGM public relations manager, said the limited regular-season betting options are a “bang for the buck” situation.

“We have limited resources,” he said. “Would they love to offer every market across the board for every sport, every game? Of course. But at the end of the day, you still have someone that has to monitor and trade on those markets to ensure that they’re working out for the company.”

More viewers, however, can ensure women’s basketball’s betting presence will only grow.

“Getting all these games now available, where you can either watch them on TV or streaming, it all kind of goes together,” Ewing said. “If fans can watch a game, they are more likely to want to wager on it.”