Are Colleges Using Title IX as “Money Scapegoats”?

posted by MarQFPR, a Women Talk Sports blogger
Monday, April 4, 2011 at 4:53am EDT

About MarQFPR:

I am not usually covering Title IX as an MMA/Combat sports reporter, but something really bugged me and had to investiagte.

I saw a recent episode of “Real Sports with Bryant Gumble” that focused on the NCAA, colleges, and big money. It should be no surprise that NCAA Division 1 Men's basketball and BCS teams are raking in hundreds of millions of dollars from television revenues, sponsorships, and championship winnings. This on top of them receiving money for using their school’s brand on appeal and video games. Very little of this money is filtered to the players besides their scholarships and housing. It was estimated that these players could receive nearly $400,000 if they were under a similar situation as pro players in the NBA and NFL.

One of the panelists, former sports broadcaster Billy Pakcer, stated the big money was being used for less popular sports programs, which include the Title IX teams. I took some offense to the idea that it costs tens of millions of dollars to run these programs at one school, so I decided to do some research.

According the “Equality in Athletics” database, which gives approximate budgetary numbers of all major college athletic programs, the school in question on the show, Auburn University, only lost roughly $13 million in expenses on their women’s teams, while their football team generated $38 million in profit. In total budget, Auburn came out ahead; $1.7 million this past year. Not bad for a non-profit institution.

This does not include the NCAA contributions to the schools via championships and television moneys, which could easily offset the women’s team budgets and then some.

As much as the NCAA men’s sports system is corrupt as many see it; Title IX is benefiting from the successes of college men’s teams, and far be it to say that it is causing any cutbacks in athletic programs. If anything, it has help women athletes of any economic and social background pursue a college degree.

In a recent NCAA study, six of the 68 men's basketball teams graduated 100 percent of their players within six years. By contrast 23 women's baksetball programs were at 100 percent, including No. 1 seeds Tennessee and Stanford.

There is worth in these programs, and to blame Title IX for a huge amount of expenses is just plain wrong.

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Are Colleges Using Title IX as “Money Scapegoats”?

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