The National Collegiate Athletic Association, or NCAA, has recently come under fire due to disparities between the men’s and women’s workout facilities at their March Madness tournaments. While the men’s players were presented with top-of-the-line equipment, the women’s players received what appeared to be only meager provisions. A viral TikTok video, published by the University of Oregon’s women’s basketball player Sedona Prince, detailed these disparities. Backlash was quick to follow.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the March Madness event had to be held at separate locations, with the men’s tournament being held in Indianapolis and the women’s being held in San Antonio. Because of this, the NCAA reserved separate workout facilities in each location. However, the equipment procured for the women’s team was a few minor weights compared to the full-fledged gyms allocated to the men.
“My initial reaction was disappointment; however I wasn’t surprised. Things like these have been happening for years,” says Katie Thiers, a player for the Roosevelt Girls Basketball Team. For many, this disappointment has become all too familiar.
Danilo Petrovic, a player for the Roosevelt Boys Basketball Team, echoed a similar sentiment upon hearing of the events. “It was just disappointing to hear and annoying because of how disrespected the women’s teams were,” says Petrovic.
Upon being met with public backlash, the NCAA immediately apologized and attempted to remedy the situation.
NCAA President Mark Emmert said in a statement, “When you lay the men’s and women’s championships side by side, as has been made clear over the past weeks, it is pretty self-evident that we dropped the ball in supporting our women’s athletes, and we can’t do that. That’s a failure that should not exist.”
While many agree with Emmert’s statement, the issue at hand is unlikely to be resolved through an apology.
Some have argued that budgetary differences are at the source of this debacle, due to the fact that the men’s tournament brought in $917.8 million dollars this year through ticket sales and media. In comparison, the women’s tournament brought in around $15 million.
However, others do not buy this argument. Petrovic says that “Obviously it had an impact, but the difference is that the NCAA runs both of these tournaments as a whole, so both should be given equal accommodation.”
Additionally, the women’s team has not been given the same platform as the men. The tournaments have different names and courts have different logos. In fact, this was the first year in which the entire women’s tournament was televised. All of these factors contribute to an overall sense of less “brand-ability,” potentially explaining the gap in revenue.
These branding disparities relate heavily to Title IX, which prohibits sex-related discrimination at any federally funded school. The difference in naming, media deals, and other amenities create a compelling case that the NCAA is not obeying Title IX. Despite this, the NCAA has been able to circumvent these restrictions due to the fact that the organization itself is not a federally funded school, but rather contributed to by a variety of schools.
Many wish that Title IX could be invoked in this instance. Thiers says that she thinks they should follow Title IX rules. “The NCAA is an athletic association for colleges, and all those colleges have to abide by Title IX, so I think the NCAA should as well.”
However, as things stand, without a revolutionary court case or amendment, it seems unlikely that Title IX will be invoked in this situation, due to 1999’s NCAA v. Smith, a Supreme Court case that has already deemed the NCAA to be outside Title IX’s jurisdiction.
This incident is one of many examples of sex discrimination in sports and has sparked a greater discussion about the future of men’s and women’s sports. When asked what steps it would take to eliminate the disparities between men’s and women’s sports, Thiers says that she would like to see “Broadcasting the games on more accessible channels,” as well as “…equal treatment: meaning equal gear, equal promotion, equal coverage, and more.”
Another interviewee, who preferred to remain anonymous, says, “I think more publicity for the women’s tournament would be nice, more commercials, more hype.”
Across the board, it is agreed that there are a great number of strides that need to be taken should we wish to see these disparities eliminated. This event has publicized these gaps, now it is up to us to bridge them.
