Candace Parker during her college days with the Tennessee Volunteers.
Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images
- WNBA superstar Candace Parker thinks more March Madness fans should engage with the women’s tourney.
- She partnered with Degree to start a $100,000 bracket challenge for this year’s women’s tournament.
- The NCAA legend told Insider about creating “more visibility and more opportunities for these deserving women.”
Candace Parker wants more eyes on the women’s game.
This March Madness, the WNBA superstar and two-time NCAA champion is teaming up with Degree to help bring more attention to the women’s NCAA tournament. Through the “Bracket Gap Challenge,” Parker and Degree are encouraging more fans to fill out brackets for the women’s tourney by offering a top prize of $100,000.
Parker plays for the WNBA’s Chicago Sky.
AP Photo/Kamil Krzaczynski
“We really want to level the playing field and create more opportunities,” Parker told Insider. “And through this Bracket Gap Challenge, we’re able to do that.”
“Something as little and simple as filling out a women’s bracket will bring about more attention, more visibility, and more opportunities for these deserving women,” she added.
Historically, far fewer fans fill out women’s NCAA tournament brackets than on the men’s side. A study of the 2021 NCAA basketball tournaments conducted by Edelman Data & Intelligence revealed that only 12% of Americans familiar with the concept of March Madness filled out brackets for the women’s tournament.
A aerial view of a 2021 NCAA women’s tournament game.
Carmen Mandato/Getty Images
With the promise of $25,000 for the winner and a $75,000 donation to the program of their choice, the Bracket Gap Challenge aims to raise that number. In doing so, Parker and Degree hope to promote engagement with the tournament, grow viewership of the women’s games, and increase promotional efforts and funding for many women’s tournaments to come.
And the benefits of a healthy, well-supported women’s college basketball tournament reach far beyond the hardwood, Parker told Insider.
“Not only are you creating the hype around [the tournament], but you’re creating opportunity,” Parker said. “The opportunity that women and young girls have in sports, or that come about because of sports, is so crucial in their development in life. And it’s not just about going professionally. It’s about being able to have the necessary life skills to work in business, to sit at a table in a boardroom.”
Parker (right) goes up for a layup while representing Team USA.
REUTERS/Sergio Perez
“So I think it’s just amazing that Degree is creating so many more opportunities for women because of this visibility, which will then allow women’s sports in general to rise,” she added.
Fans can fill out a women’s March Madness bracket at BracketGapChallenge.com beginning March 13 — or Selection Sunday — after the tournament schedule is released to the public. Submissions will close just before the start of tournament competition on Friday, March 18.
Check out Degree’s promotional video for the Bracket Gap Challenge — starring Parker — below:
Read the original article on Business Insider 
