I’m bout to go on a rant, y’all. Title IX. I mean, what is up with Roman Numerals? I’m too lazy to calculate all of that business. Every time someone whips out the Is and Vs and Xs, I cringe. And don’t get me started on the Ls, Cs, Ds, and Ms. Way too much brain power to figure all of that out. But, that’s not what I’m bout to be ranting on. Buckle up Bucko. Here we go.
Title IX, for those of you who aren’t up to speed, was passed in 1972, and states, basically, that no person in the U.S.A. can, on the basis of sex, be barred from educational programs and activities if federal funds are provided. Back in 1972, this law was primarily focused on allowing equal opportunities for women in educational programs and other programs which received federal monies. This was during the height of the push for the Equal Rights Amendment, when feminism was all the rage and women began demanding an equal seat at the table. As expected, there was disagreement on what should be done and who could force who to do what. (Go figure.) But, Title IX was passed as a civil rights law to prohibit sex discrimination. In the 1970s in my world, it translated into schools being required to offer something of a similar experience for girls as for boys in areas such as sports.
Now, I know that Title IX covers a lot of territory and encompasses many related topics. I will not be delving into all the different nuances here, nor will I be discussing the differences between private vs public institutions. I will only be talking about the sports equality aspect, using Title IX as a starting point for my rant…...um, I mean discussion.
In 7th grade, I tried out and made my Jr. High basketball team. I had no formal training in basketball, but had done a lot of driveway practice, and my dad taught me his beloved hook shot. He had played college ball, so I knew that he knew what he was talking about. So, my love for basketball began when I stepped onto the court of Gallman Jr. High School. My love faded quickly. In 1971, girls basketball sucked. We were taught dozens of rules about who could stand where, who had to stay on one side of the court, who was allowed to shoot, and how many times you were allowed to dribble the ball. The rules for girls basketball were outdated, and completely ridiculous. The rules reflected an old-fashioned belief that women were too delicate and frail for the fast-paced game of basketball. Some players were forced to stand only on one end of the court, not allowed to cross the half-court line. Only one or two players were allowed to run the whole length of the court. There were so many restrictive rules that you could not get any momentum going, and you could barely work up a sweat. I just wanted to PLAY BALL! I lasted one year on my school basketball team, then I left and joined church league basketball, which was a great big free-for-all where we were allowed to go all out. My talents were better suited on that court, I got more playing time, and our team won the league championship! I had a great time the rest of my basketball career.
I’ll get back to basketball in a minute. But first… in 1972, my Jr. High School decreed that girls would be allowed to wear PANTS to school. Yes, heretofore, girls had to wear DRESSES every day. Can you believe that? Of course, you couldn’t wear any old pants, you had to wear a PANTSUIT. With my on-top-of-it Mom, I had the perfect pantsuit at the ready, and on the designated day that we could first exert our rights to wear pants, I proudly arrived at school in my pink plaid pantsuit. I was miserable the whole day, burning up in my pantsuit as I moved from heated classroom to heated classroom. Turns out, I was too frail to wear pants. Nevermind, I don’t want to wear pants—I’ll put my dress back on! Maybe that was their plan all along. I’m glad to say that the dress code evolved quickly, so that within a year, we 70s kids were wearing bell-bottom jeans with our platform shoes and all manner of far-out clothing. (note: I might be wrong about the exact Year of Pants, but it fits nicely into my story here, so I’m keeping it.)
OK, back to sport….If you are a keen reader, you might have noticed that my experience in 1971 with the less-than basketball program was close to the time that the Title IX law was passed in 1972. Looking up info on women’s basketball, the experts confirm my experience, that about that time a hard look was taken at sports like basketball, and women’s rules were changed to align more closely with the men’s sport so that women could have a similar experience in the sport. Yay, they finally got it right! Or did they?
Here in 2022, there has been much noise around the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) college men’s and women’s basketball programs. In recent years, ridiculous disparities have made the rounds on social media, highlighting the enormous amount of attention and resources given to the men’s sport and the paltry after-thoughts given to women’s sport. Due to recent uproars, committees have been formed and firms have been hired to study the problems and make recommendations on things that could be done to give the women’s program more fitting attention. You can read A LOT of articles online about the second-class standards that the college women’s basketball programs have endured. I won’t bore you with all the details.
But, I will bore you with this part. In the U.S.A., colleges are grouped into regional associations called conferences. Conferences often have 14 or so colleges grouped together. Examples are the ACC, the BIG TEN, the SEC, the PAC-12, and others. At the end of basketball season, the NCAA College Basketball Tournament invites 68 of the best college teams in the country to compete in March Madness until the final team is crowned the National Champion. The 68 teams that make the tournament earn money for their conferences, which, in turn, distribute the money to all the schools within their association. Each of those 68 teams earns money by virtue of making the tournament, and more money as they continue to win. So, a conference with multiple teams in the tournament makes more money, and a conference whose teams continue to win makes more and more money. When its all said and done, the conferences distribute those basketball tournament earnings to all the colleges under their jurisdiction, even those colleges who did not compete in the tournament. There are big bucks involved.
The NCAA Basketball Tournament rakes in millions & millions of dollars. The earnings which are distributed to the colleges provide incentives to invest and build successful sports programs. This year, 2022, a team which got into the tournament but lost immediately, earned $338,887 for their conference. Each team that continued winning all the way to the Final Four earned $2,033,322 for their conference. That’s some serious money! Money that goes directly to the support and improvement of the college athletics programs.
Oh, one detail I forgot to mention. That’s what happens on the men’s side of the tournament. The women’s tournament, with its 68 teams, ran concurrently with the men’s tournament this year. My beloved University of South Carolina Gamecock Women’s Basketball team won a hard-fought battle to the end and became the National Champions!! They won the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament!!! We are so proud of them!!!! With a National Championship under their belt, guess how much money the team earned for their conference? $0. Nada. Nothing. There is no money to be earned for the women’s basketball tournament. This despite the fact that season attendance was at an all-time high, that 4.85 million viewers tuned into the final championship game, and that many players have huge social media followings and rabid fans. No money. Not one penny.
You can give me the old argument that the sports that generate the most money have to support the ones that lose money. That men’s sports are way more popular than women’s sports. Yada yada yada. But I am here to tell you that you must invest in things, market them, and promote them to get them to grow. Things that you ignore will stay static. The Gamecock women’s team has led the country in attendance at women’s college games for the last 8 years in a row. They average 13,239 fans per game. I checked on NCAA statistics for men’s basketball attendance and saw that the number matches the #23 attendance record on the men’s side. That means there are 22 men’s basketball programs who average better attendance than my Gamecock women. Because there are 358 colleges with men’s basketball programs (Division 1 schools), simple math tells me that this women’s team has better attendance than 335 men’s basketball teams. 335! Don’t tell me the fans aren’t there for women’s basketball. Build the programs up, and watch where they can take us.
There is so much I want to say, but I can’t keep you that long. Title IX reaches in many directions. I have only touched the tip of the iceberg talking about the sports aspect of it. We all know that the themes parallel many other topics. It’s amazing to me that in my lifetime I have seen so many changes in the way that women are treated, as compared to men. It is amazing to me to know how much more there is to do. I truly don’t believe that power executives are sitting behind mahogany desks sneering and scheming against women. I think they just ignore them, overlook them, or think them inconsequential when it comes to things like high power sports. Aww, that’s cute. You girls want to have a little tournament too? What say we show them a thing or two about women’s sports? I sure would like to!
Dan Gavitt, NCAA Sr. Vice President of Basketball has been quoted in Sports Illustrated saying that women's basketball is "likely undervalued, and quite possibly significantly undervalued.” UCLA women’s basketball coach Cori Close was also quoted as saying, "“The time is now. Not only because it’s right and we should have done it a long time ago, but because it’s a good business decision—a good asset worth investing in.”
Whew, I’m getting so worked up, I’m bout to break into a sweat. I should really retire to the fainting room. You know how we girls are. I feel a swooning spell coming on. Or maybe a fit of hysteria. It will be my VIIth spell this week.