Title IX and Economics

Component 3: Equivalence in Other Benefits and Opportunities of Title IX includes items such as uniforms, coaching quality, practice and game schedules, facility access, facility quality, equipment quality and quantity, competent officials,and a similar number of sport offerings and competitive levels. This is the component that elicits the greatest number of complaints. Athletics directors are strongly encouraged to resolve complaints in this area before they are lodged with the Office of Civil Rights (OCR). Once complaints are accepted and processed by the OCR, monitoring and resolution proceedings may continue for several years.4

Although budgets for boys and girls sports do not need to be identical, it is important to document that the needs of girls’ sports teams are being met. In this regard, documentation of school responses to information gathered from surveys of female athlete satisfaction levels and emerging interests in new girls’ sports can be extremely important. The school’s past budget plans, long range plan and budgetary response to these surveys can be useful in demonstrating compliance and in providing evidence in times of challenge.4

When it comes to Title IX and money, many universities face a dilemma when economic reality and Title IX collide head-on.1 One of the biggest issues is that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) requires Division 1 to provide at least 65 full scholarships for football with a maximum number. This poses a problem because there is not a women’s sport that can proportionately compare in numbers to football due to the size of the roster. With that being said, some universities have to cut programs that bring in little to no revenue in order to stay in compliance with Title IX. To try to make up for the number of scholarships a football program can give, other men’s sports are forced to give fewer full scholarships than comparable women’s teams. The women’s sport that can give the most number of scholarships is ice hockey and they are only able to give 18. To make matters worse, in 2000 there were only 23 Division 1 programs that offered ice hockey.1

University’s reasoning for cutting men's sport teams is not because the athletic department is on a tight budget like they want people to think. Instead, the trend to cut men’s sports in Division 1 is driven by profit-motivated athletic departments.2 The two men’s sports that are most often the first to go are wrestling and gymnastics because they do not bring in a large amount of money. What many people do not understand is that cutting men’s sports is not required, it is just what many universities choose to do in order to stay in compliance. Some institutions even cut women’s sports instead of trying to control their bloated football and basketball budgets.3 A good example of a university doing this is when San Diego State University decided to address its $2 million budget deficit by cutting its men’s volleyball team instead of cutting slightly into the $5 million football budget. Only four months after cutting the men’s volleyball team, the university outfitted the football team with new uniforms and state-of-the-art titanium facemasks.3 Often times universities get money hungry and instead of doing the right thing, they do whatever is going to help fill their pockets.

http://www.athleticscholarships.net/title-ix-college-athletics-7.htm

Another issue that is brought up when talking about Title IX and economics is that people think that the same dollar amount has to be spent on women’s sports that is spent on men’s sports. This is just not true. It is never going to happen because a full football uniform is going to cost much more than a women’s volleyball uniform is going to cost. All that Title IX requires on this issue is that women’s teams are treated fairly. This means that if a football team gets top of the line fancy uniforms, so should the women’s volleyball team. If a football team is given a uniform to wear to home games and a different uniform to wear to away games, then the volleyball team should also get a uniform to wear at home and a different one to wear to away games.

To sum this blog up, Title IX does not require institutions to spend the same dollar amount on women as they do on men, but they should both be treated fairly. If a men’s team gets top of the line equipment, the women's sports should as well. Check back next week to explore another misconception of Title IX.

1Athnet. (2017). College Athletics and Equality of Opportunity for Women. Retrieved from

http://www.athleticscholarships.net/title-ix-college-athletics-7.htm

2Marburger, D.R., & Hogshead-Makar, N. (2004). Is Title IX Really to Blame for the Decline in Intercollegiate Men's Nonrevenue Sports? Hein Online. http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/mqslr14&div=10&id=&page=

3National Women’s Law Center. Debunking the Myths About Title IX and Athletics. Retrieved from http://nwlc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/title_ix_debunking_myths_8.11.15.pdf

4Warrick County School Corporation. (n.d.). Three Components of Title IX. Retreived from http://www.warrickschools.com/schools/castle/athletics/coachHandbook/Gender%20Equity%20Information/3%20Components%20of%20Title%20IX.pdf