The long-awaited NCAA equality review recommends a combined Final Four event for men’s and women’s basketball in one place

The NCAA has failed to live up to its commitment to gender equality by prioritizing the Cash Cows Division I men’s basketball tournament “above all else,” according to a challenging review released on Tuesday to assess how the association is performing in its championship.

The law firm hired by the NCAA investigates stock issues and released a 113-page report with several recommendations, including keeping the Men’s and Women’s Final Fours in one place and providing financial incentives to schools to improve women’s basketball programs.

But it tore the NCAA as it came under an established approach to women’s play, hampering its growth and leading to an embarrassing lack of equality with men.

“For women’s basketball, the NCAA has not fulfilled its stated commitment to‘ diversity, inclusion and gender equality among student athletes, coaches and administrators, ’” the report found.

The review of Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP was highly anticipated. The company was hired in March after the NCAA was unable to provide similar amenities to men’s and women’s Division I basketball tournament teams.

The NCAA board said in a statement that it is “fully committed to a level playing field in its championships” and urged Emmert to take urgent action. The coaches around the game praised the review.

“I really hope this report motivates big changes !!!” Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer, country champion Stanford, said in a text message to the AP.

The report found that the differences are not limited to this year’s tournaments and that the financial agreement underlying the NCAA and its member schools is partly to blame: Kaplan said the NCAA’s structure and systems “are designed to maximize the Division I Men’s Basketball Championship in the NCAA and the primary source of funding for its membership. “

NCAA revenues exceeded $ 1 billion the year before the pandemic, of which nearly $ 900 million was tied to a media rights agreement with CBS and Turner in the men’s tournament.

The women’s tournament is part of a package that includes more than two dozen other NCAA championships that ESPN owns and pays about $ 34 million a year from 2023-24. But an estimate by Kaplan, a team of sports media and marketing experts, puts the value of the women’s tournament at $ 81-122 million a year from 2025 onwards.

The report criticized the NCAA for not recognizing or preparing for added value and for the revenue generated by the media trade in the men’s tournament to lead to the event being prioritized “in all other ways that create, normalize and perpetuate gender inequality”.

“We urge the NCAA to review with its media partners all broadcasting agreements that include women’s basketball – especially its agreement with ESPN – as soon as possible to ensure that the NCAA, conferences and member institutions receive fair compensation for our product that our sports put on the floor,” Danielle Donehew said in a statement.

ESPN, which some have appreciated for boosting the game by producing a women’s tournament exclusively since 1985, said it was reviewing the report. CBS and Turner Sports officials did not respond immediately to comments requesting comments.

California women’s basketball coach Charmin Smith said the report highlights the differences she has seen over the years.

“Yes, it’s definitely positive,” Smith said. “I think the NCAA has been called lately in a number of ways, and the NCAA needs to translate and adapt to avoid even more lawsuits. It’s gone to the point that enough is enough.”

Kaplan said running the Final Fours on the same site would allow for better cross-advertising of events and sponsors participating in each tournament. The report said it was “the best available means to increase women’s basketball”.

VanDerveer and Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma said they were not sold in the Final Fours merger, but they wanted to stay open to the idea.

“It’s worth a try. It’s possible,” Auriemma said. “It’s been done successfully with tennis and the Olympics. Is there enough spreading so no one gets lost in the mix going on there? That’s the question.”

Kaplan also recommended using the March Madness brand in the women’s tournament – which was approved by the NCAA a few months ago amid the tournament’s rage – and expanding the field from 64 to 68 teams to match the men’s series.

The revenue generated by the CBS / Turner agreement is distributed back to the schools by the NCAA, which is a large proportion of the “units” that conferences earn based on the tournament results of individual schools. No similar division is made in the women’s tournament, but Kaplan suggested using a similar model, which could make schools spend more on improving women’s basketball programs.

The NCAA has struggled with the theme of equity in its two party tent tournaments for years, and similar proposals have been made before improvements.

This year’s events forced the issue to be raised again.

Women players, coaches, and staff, among others, criticized the NCAA for not initially providing a full weight training area for women’s teams in San Antonio, noting that men’s teams did not have the same problem in and around Indianapolis. Both tournaments were held in individual locations due to the pandemic.

Kaplan found that printing room problems and other differences between events, such as COVID-19 testing protocols, meals, signage, and outdoor activities, were mainly due to a lack of women’s tournament and coordination — an important issue in the review — between the two event organizers.

“The women’s basketball staff, who were responsible for credentials, gaming activities and about 30 other tasks, had about eight men’s basketball partners with whom she was theoretically supposed to coordinate,” the report states.

Emmert and others apologized and ordered an investigation. Other complaints occurred at the Women’s Volleyball Tournament in Omaha, Nebraska and the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City.

The review required the NCAA to annually evaluate the next five years to monitor progress on gender equality.

“Let’s see what comes of it,” Auriemma said. “I am interested in hearing answers from university presidents and [athletic directors]. “