Run, Atalanta, Run:
You Do Not Run Alone

Besides the fact that girls have 1.17 million fewer participation opportunities at the high school level and 54,557 fewer participation opportunities at the collegiate level, the resources spent on sport for females have also never caught up to the resources allocated to males. Currently, 57 percent of our college and university populations are female, yet female athletes receive only 37 percent of our sports operating budgets, 33 percent of the dollars spent on recruiting, and 45 percent of athletic scholarship funding. This amounts to $133 million less than male athletes receive in scholarships each year. It is clear that the Atalanta syndrome is alive and well, as we continue to seriously shortchange our daughters.

I want to make it perfectly clear that women’s sports have not gained at the expense of opportunities for men. From 1988-89 to 2003-04, 3,304 women’s teams were added and 1,967 were dropped, for a net gain of 1,967 teams. During the same time period, NCAA schools added 2050 sports for men while dropping 1951, for a net gain of 99 new men’s sports teams.¹ As noted by Professor Stimpson, many blame Title IX for the decline in men’s sports such as wrestling, gymnastics, and other minor sports, and yet these data show that participation rates have increased annually for men.

Any claim that the decline in men’s wrestling teams is due to Title IX is unfounded. From 1984 to 1988, Title IX’s application to intercollegiate athletics was suspended due to the Supreme Court’s decision in Grove City College v. Bell. This decision held that only those programs that directly receive federal funds – intercollegiate athletics do not – were covered by Title IX. In that four year period, when the three-part test² was not in effect, colleges and universities cut wrestling teams at a rate almost three times as high as the rate of decline during the 12 years after Title IX’s application to intercollegiate athletic programs was firmly reestablished by the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987. Data on the interscholastic level support a declining interest in wrestling as well. High school wrestling participation peaked in 1976-77 at 355,160. By 1981-82, it declined to 245,029, and by 1989-99, to 235,973.³

In gymnastics, most athletic administrators would agree that the most likely reason for the elimination of teams is liability. The significant loss of women’s gymnastic teams over the same period supports this contention. During the past 15 years, 100 women’s gymnastics teams and 56 men’s gymnastic teams have been discontinued at the college level.⁴ Certainly, no one would consider blaming Title IX for the loss of so many women’s teams.

In analyzing the data, it appears that the wealthiest schools, those capable of fielding large athletic programs, are choosing to allocate significant resources to a limited number of sport programs. It should be noted that in NCAA Division I-A, 74 percent of the total men’s athletics operating budgets are spent on two programs, football and men’s basketball.⁵ Some may say, well, this is all right, because football supports all other programs. But this is one of the biggest myths in intercollegiate athletics. Revenue producing and profit generating are not equivalent terms. Many sports produce revenues, but few produce profits. Among NCAA programs in all competitive divisions, 78 percent of all football programs and 73 percent of all basketball programs spend more than they bring in and contribute nothing to other sports budgets. Even among Division I-A football programs, more than one third are running deficits in excess of $1 million per year.⁶

The sport of football has done nothing but thrive during the Title IX era. According to the General Accounting Office, football participation across all three NCAA divisions has increased by a total of 7,199 players, which more than offsets the combined losses of male participants in wrestling (2,648), tennis (1,405), and gymnastics (1,022). The average Division I-A football roster has grown to 117 as coaches continue to say they need more players to be successful.⁴

1. NCAA, Sport Sponsorship Information, 2003-04. [↩]

2. On December 11, 1979, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare published a final set of Title IX policy interpretations which included the three-part test(also known as the three-prong test) for measuring compliance with the requirement to effectively accomodate the interests and abilities of the underrepresented sex. To be in compliance, a school only needs to meet one of the three tests:

   1. Participation opportunities for male and female students are provided in equal numbers substantially proportionate to their respective enrollments.
   2. The school can show a history and continuing practice of program expansion that is demonstrably responsive to the developing interest and abilities of the members of that sex.
   3. The school can demonstrate that the present program fully and effectively accommodates the interests and abilities of the members of that sex.

   [↩]

3. National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education, Title IX Athletics Policies: Issues and Data for Education Decision Makers, August 2002. [↩]
4. Ibid. [↩] [↩]
5. NCAA, 2002-03 Gender Equity Report (Overland Park, KS: NCAA Publishing, 2005). [↩]
6. D.L. Fulks, Revenues and Expenses of Division I and Division II Intercollegiate Athletic Programs – Financial Trends and Relationships 1999 (Indianapolis, IN: NCAA Publishing 2000). [↩]