Report drills NCAA on equity, calls for combined Final Four

The NCAA has fallen short of upholding its commitment to gender equity by prioritizing its cash cow Division I men’s basketball tournament “over everything else,” according a scathing review released Tuesday after an uproar over how the association conducts its championship events. “With respect to women’s basketball, the NCAA has not lived up to its stated commitment to ‘diversity, inclusion and gender equity among its student-athletes, coaches and administrators,’” the report found. The report noted disparities were not confined to this year’s tournaments and that the bedrock financial deal for the NCAA and its member schools is partly to blame: Kaplan said NCAA’s structure and systems “are designed to maximize the value of and support to the Division I Men’s Basketball Championship as the primary source of funding for the NCAA and its membership.” NCAA revenues surpassed $1 billion in the year before the pandemic and almost $900 million of that was tied to the media rights deal with CBS and Turner for the men’s tournament. The report criticized the NCAA for failing to recognize or prepare for that growth in value and said revenue generated by the men’s tournament’s media deal leads to that event being prioritized “over everything else in ways that create, normalize and perpetuate gender inequities.” “We urge the NCAA to revisit with its media partners all broadcast rights agreements that include women’s basketball — specifically its contract with ESPN — as soon as possible to ensure the NCAA, the conferences, and the member institutions are being fairly compensated for the product our sport puts on the floor,” Women’s Basketball Coaches Association executive director Danielle Donehew said in a statement. “The women’s basketball staff member responsible for credentials, game operations and approximately 30 other tasks had approximately eight men’s basketball counterparts with whom she was in theory supposed to coordinate,” the report said.