The NCAA is facing strong criticism after a women’s basketball player posted a video showing the large workout room provided to men’s tournament players and the small space given to the women.
Sedona Prince, a redshirt sophomore player for the Oregon Ducks, posted the video calling attention to the disparities between the weight rooms late Thursday evening.
“I got something to show y’all. So, for the NCAA March Madness, the biggest tournament in college basketball for women … This is our weight room,” she said as she pointed toward a small, single stack of weights.
“Lemme show y’all the men’s weight room,” Prince said as she pointed to the much larger men’s weight room.
Critics noted that the equipment in the women’s weight room pales compared to the men’s area. The men’s weight room includes ample space furnished with various machines, benches, racks, and other training equipment. Meanwhile, the women got some yoga mats and a single rack of six dumbbells.
Tournament authorities quickly came out with a statement blaming the unavailability of “space” for the disparity in furnishings.
“We acknowledge that some of the amenities teams would typically have access to have not been as available inside the controlled environment,” said NCAA VP Lynn Holzman, according to TMZ.
“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,” Holzman added.
Prince responded to the NCAA’s claim of limited space for the women’s facility.
“Now when pictures of our weight room got released vs. the men’s, the NCAA came out with a statement saying that it wasn’t money, it was space that was the problem,” Prince said.
Then, she took video of a room with more vacant space, and said, “If you aren’t upset about this problem, then you are a part of it.”
However, another explanation is one no one will take about: Women’s sports don’t make money. Just for an example, The NCAA earned well over $1 billion from its programs in 2019, but about $870 million of that came from the Men’s March Madness games that year.
Still, the tournament took a heap of criticism:
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