NCAA Gender Equity Review Recommends Holding Joint Men’s, Women’s Final Fours

AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File

Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP released a 113-page report Thursday that criticized the NCAA’s efforts to maintain gender equity and suggested the organization hold the men’s and women’s Final Fours at the same site for future basketball tournaments.

Ralph D. Russo of the Associated Press provided more details, noting the law firm was hired following public criticism directed toward the NCAA’s efforts during the 2021 basketball tournaments in March.

NCAA President Mark Emmert even issued an apology after such criticism. 

“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 read while pointing to issues that extended beyond the 2021 Big Dance and were at least in part tied to media rights deals.

The report also said the NCAA’s current 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.”

This comes after a number of players, including Sabrina Ionescu, A’ja Wilson, Kelsey Plum and CJ McCollum, criticized the NCAA for the lackluster amenities available during the NCAA women’s tournament compared to the men’s tournament:

Rather than disputing the accuracy of such pictures that were widely circulated on social media, NCAA Vice President Lynn Holzman released a statement acknowledging the differences:

“We acknowledge that some of the amenities teams would typically have access to have not been as available inside the controlled environment. In part, this is due to the limited space and the original plan was to expand the workout area once additional space was available later in the tournament. However, we want to be responsive to the needs of our participating teams, and we are actively working to enhance existing resources at practice courts, including additional weight training equipment.”

The men’s tournament was based in Indiana, while the women’s tournament took place in San Antonio.

Thursday’s review from Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP also suggested the NCAA should perform annual assessments during the next five years to see if it is improving its gender equity.