Men & Women's NCAA Basketball Tournament - Billy Nowak, Shaun Higgins, Travis Kash & Nicole Zawislan

            Our group was very intrigued throughout the semester about the comparisons between male and female sports, so for our presentation we decided to compare the differences between the Men’s and Women’s NCAA Basketball Tournaments, more commonly known as March Madness. The reason there is an ability to compare the two tournaments as different can be found in just this simple year comparison: The first Men’s March Madness Tournament was held in 1939 and the first Women’s Tournament was held in 1972. 1972 was also considered an important year for women’s sports in general because of Title IX becoming official.

            Before Title IX, only two percent of total athletic budgets went to female college athletes. The other 98 percent went towards basic athletic upkeep and male athletes. That number is astonishing when you look at how much that has changed in just 40 years. Title IX has helped to make the number closer a 50/50 split. Women’s Basketball has benefited from Title IX immensely, however there are still many areas that lack when comparing to Men’s NCAA Basketball.

            An interesting statistic that can really explain the difference in media coverage for both tournaments is that ESPN’s SportsCenter spent roughly over 3 hours of segments discussing different aspects of the Men’s Tournament. The same program then spent a little over 6 minutes worth of discussion on the Women’s Tournament.  That statistic is shocking, but also shows how much media coverage has an effect on the popularity of the March Madness Tournaments. If the media were to focus on getting those air times closer to a 50/50 split like other areas of the tournaments have, we believe that people who watch the Tournament would be interested in more than just the tournament of one gender.