How much $$$ NCAA spent on softball vs baseball

[MoJo]

A law firm hired by the NCAA concluded that it undervalues womens hoops by a huge margin - WSJ article below.

I believe the same report also concluded that the costs allocated towards womens hoops was off, i.e the womens tournament makes money when viewed as a standalone, but the NCAA allocates a bunch of outside costs to it, making it seem like it's a money loser.

Hard to believe softball doesn't suffer from the same underinvestment/misallocation of costs. The Yahoo article below talks about the opaque accounting.


NCAA is so corrupt.

NCAA reveals budget, revenue gulfs between men’s and women’s basketball tournaments

In a financial summary obtained by Yahoo Sports, the NCAA attempted to justify the disparity between the two tournament budgets.

www.yahoo.com

(paywall)

NCAA Undervalued Women’s Basketball Tournament by Millions While Prioritizing Men’s Tourney, Report Finds

The NCAA has undervalued its annual women’s basketball tournament by tens of millions of dollars, according to a report by a law firm hired by the NCAA.

www.wsj.com

I have no doubt that there has been "Creative Accounting" from the beginning.

The NCAA wildly difference in treatment is also disgusting.

 

[Nimrod]

Even if the NCAA is undervaluing the revenue produced by softball and women's basketball, those sports are still generating far, far less than baseball and men's basketball.

That doesn't mean investment shouldn't be more equitable. It just make you have to evaluate what makes equality important. Should it be based so much on economics, or does the value of gender equality transcend the economics? Especially since it's 'college' athletics, with amateur athletes, and not pro sports.

 

[ang2bmd]

Softball in certain conferences like the sec is in the black, but across the board I'm not surprised its in the red. The big 10 is an absolute joke regarding softball....as it showed last year during the pandemic season with lack of coverage etc. The ACC is growing much faster and the PAC is always strong. The Big 12 will be interesting given the change to the SEC for a couple of its powerhouse schools.

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[Shiloh]

Softball in certain conferences like the sec is in the black, but across the board I'm not surprised its in the red. The big 10 is an absolute joke regarding softball....as it showed last year during the pandemic season with lack of coverage etc. The ACC is growing much faster and the PAC is always strong. The Big 12 will be interesting given the change to the SEC for a couple of its powerhouse schools.

Every sport at every college outside basketball/football/baseball/softball at a few P5 schools is in the red.

One could maybe even argue that being the black is the anomaly, that college sports are not natural revenue-generators.

Should it be based so much on economics, or does the value of gender equality transcend the economics? Especially since it's 'college' athletics, with amateur athletes, and not pro sports.

That's a great point. Is there a moral argument to be made?

Well, the NCAA says students are students first, athletes second, and the concept of amateurism is a bedrock. So there doesn't seem to be much to debate - the investments should be equal. After all, sports are extracurricular activities, nice to haves, not need to haves, not central to the mission, finances, or reputation of the universities.

Right?