Zeb- There must be some allowances in Title IX because UF continues to spend far more on football than on anything else--and I'm not against that. It's really about providing opportunities for women athletes, and I think UF has done an outstanding job. I think we are close to approximate parity in scholarships. The creation of the additional women's sports helped get us there. Also, I think that some women's teams have more scholarships than men's teams do. For example, I am under the impression that softball has more than baseball (although I have no facts to back this up.) You look at the beautiful facilities that have been built for the women's teams and you know that football helped make that possible. My impression is that the women athletes get treated the same as the men in terms of access to weight rooms/trainers and academic support services, transportation to away games, quality of equipment, etc. I also think support for football has translated into support for other sports, including women's sports. Coaches like Spurrier and Meyer have done quite a bit to promote women's athletics at UF and I think fans have responded. No sport is going to be as popular as football at UF, but Gator fans really like winning teams of all sorts. Helen
On Mon, Jul 11, 2011 at 4:20 PM, John Vega <[email protected]> wrote: > > 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 > -- Helen Huntley (727) 823-3801 www.helenhuntley.com -- 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
