On Jul 10, 2011, at 4:06 AM, Cecilia wrote: > So... do you think requiring parity between men's and women's sports is > unfair, Jerry?
Not named Jerry, but I will take a stab. I believe that there should be parity in funding from the University between mens and women's sports. This is probably true for most schools, and relatively easy to achieve except in those schools where one sport is actually profitable. Think Kentucky basketball for a moment. UK could offer equal scholarships and facilities to men's and women's athletics. Then, the success of its basketball program puts it on TV and yields a copious amount of additional revenue. UK could even be smart and, instead of plowing all of that outside revenue into the program that generates it, take a chunk and create a new woman's sports team such as lacrosse. Now, in this scenario, UK will have more scholarships for women than men, fund men's and women's programs equally from University sources, yet still spend more on men's sports due to the amount of outside revenue that has been funneled back into the program that is generating that revenue. Perhaps on the salary for a high profile coach like a Pitino or Calipari; an expense that does not create additional scholarships or opportunities other than maintaining the revenue stream. To my mind, that would be fair. Equal opportunities; equal University funding, but allowing revenue positive programs to plow some of that money back into the sport producing the revenue. I do believe, however, that that would be a violation of Title IX and the initial question. Football is a tougher issue. There is still the revenue production issue, but there is also the problem that there is no woman's equivalent to football. That is 85 scholarships, and the largest scholarship sport in women's athletics is probably 15 scholarships. So, a school would need almost 6 full new women's programs just to keep pace with football, and that means 6 new fields, lockers, practice facilities, etc. It is tough to see how a school like UF will ever be able to bring opportunities for women up to an equal level for men absent some artificial exclusion of football from the calculation. That was considered and rejected at the inception of Title IX. -John Vega -- GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us
