Financially, the NCAA got what it wanted. It plowed through the pandemic to put on a men’s basketball tournament that brings in close to $1 billion. 

But the NCAA also created a platform it probably didn’t want. Both the men’s and women’s tournaments were also the stage for athletes and coaches to criticize the ways it failed them. 

Power of a Platform

The timing of the NCAA’s blunders may be critical to push reforms forward.

“I think more conversation leads to change,” Stefanie Strack, founder and CEO of the women’s sports advocacy group Voice in Sport, told FOS.

Of women’s inequities, Georgia Tech coach Nell Fortner wrote: “Thank you for using the three biggest weeks of your organization’s year to expose exactly how you feel about women’s basketball — an afterthought.”

Gender Disparities

Days before the women’s tournament even started, a social media deluge exposed everything from inadequate weight rooms to disparities in COVID-19 testing. 

As a result, fitness companies offered to provide equipment — though the NCAA didn’t exactly jump at the opportunity. NCAA officials rushed to provide excuses, then eventually apologies. 

And while women’s players got a better weight room, they didn’t get better tests. Women’s players suffered “quite a few” false positives as a result, coach Geno Auriemma told reporters.

Women’s coaches and players spoke out about how these inequities reach campuses too. 

The #NotNCAAProperty movement quickly took up the fight, though it originally began as a movement for name, image, and likeness rights.

#NotNCAAProperty Protest

In January, the NCAA was supposed to vote on rules that would allow athletes to profit off their NIL. But the governing body postponed that vote until the NCAA v. Alston decision drops, NCAA President Mark Emmert said.

At March Madness, a group of basketball players staged the #NotNCAAProperty protest to highlight the NCAA’s inaction. They flooded Twitter with the hashtag, made and wore shirts, and caught the attention of major outlets from ESPN to The New York Times. 

The attention also brought some important meetings. Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.), both outspoken athlete advocates, met with the group before the Final Four, according to announcements on Twitter. So did Emmert.

The failures have sparked not just outside concern but also calls for intervention.

The NCAA launched an investigation into women’s sports inequality after lawmakers complained. And state legislatures drafted more NIL laws, further pressuring the NCAA to pass its own rules by July.

Women’s Sports Scrutiny

On March 24, 36 House Democrats signed a letter to Emmert demanding that he “review” potential inequities across sports, according to the Washington Post. The letter said the NCAA should “adhere” to Title IX’s “principles” even if the governing body isn’t legally obligated to do so.

The next day, Emmert caved. He announced that the NCAA hired an outside law firm to investigate how resources for all championships have been distributed. He promised a full report this summer.

But the criticism kept coming: On March 29, Blumenthal reached across the aisle to co-author a letter with Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) expressing disgust with the inequities, and calling on the NCAA to “immediately” fix them.

Specifically, the senators took umbrage with testing disparity “that defies explanation and common sense,” the letter read. “It is indefensible that the NCAA would not set the same standards for both tournaments.”

Other groups outside Washington also pressured Emmert. The NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics called for an investigation, according to the Washington Post, while the Women’s Basketball Coaching Association launched a campaign called #OurFairShot.

NIL Movement

During the tournaments, state legislatures were busy drafting NIL laws.

During the week of the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight, for example, Mississippi passed an NIL bill that, similarly to Florida’s, would take effect July 1. The Georgia General Assembly passed a bill that awaits Gov. Brian Kemp’s signature.

Hawkeyes guard and #NotNCAAProperty advocate Jordan Bohannon helped push for an Iowa NIL law to pass. But the bill was stalled because of the pending NCAA v. Alston decision, Bohannon tweeted.

Because of state laws, NIL is coming whether the NCAA wants it or not. But women’s sports reform remains more nebulous. 

In order to grow women’s basketball, advocates suggest that the NCAA, schools, and even outside organizations increase visibility and provide more support.

Redirecting Resources

Investment is key, Strack said. The NCAA should ensure its television deal with ESPN provides adequate visibility to women’s basketball, and should invest more marketing dollars into the tournament.

“If you don’t put in the money, you can’t expect the same rate of return for women’s sport,” Strack said. 

Right now, neither of those things are happening. The 2019 men’s tournament received $13.5 million more in resources than the women’s tournament, a New York Times report revealed.

And the current $500 million TV deal with ESPN, which bundles other NCAA championships with the women’s tournament — and which many experts believe undervalues women’s basketball rights — expires in 2024. So it’s ripe for renegotiation, if the NCAA is interested.

Strack also suggested that resources for teams themselves, from equipment to support staff, be distributed equally to men’s resources, since they currently aren’t. Individual schools are responsible for this as much, if not more, than the NCAA.

Outside Help

New outlets need to be built specifically to cover the women’s game, Haley Rosen, founder and CEO of the women’s sports media company Just Women’s Sports, told FOS.

“That next step is, if we truly want to see change — it’s media coverage,” Rosen said. “It’s actually covering these women from the start of the tournament to the end of the tournament.”

And Title IX needs to be more enforceable in order to ensure that schools, at least, can be held accountable, Strack said. That’s something her organization is advocating for on Capitol Hill.

Most schools don’t comply with Title IX because no one forces them to. Currently, the only way to hold a school’s feet to the fire is to file a time-consuming and costly lawsuit.