The NCAA has a chronic problem of underestimating women, writer and host Jemele Hill said on Friday – and the latest controversy over weight room discrepancies highlights this inequality.
“This has been a consistent problem for a long time with regard to the lack of equality between male and female sports,” said Hill. “This should let everyone know who is watching and hearing about this story, that it was about the fact that they didn’t think it was worth it to start.”
A Stanford University sports performance coach posted photos on Twitter on Thursday, revealing the inequalities between women’s and men’s weight rooms.
The photos, posted by Ali Kershner, a coach on Stanford women’s basketball and golf teams, show the facilities of the women’s weight room in the NCAA bubble in San Antonio – a rack of dumbbells and some yoga mats. The men’s weight room, in its NCAA bubble in Indianapolis. it was adorned with the equivalent of gym equipment.
In a call from Zoom on Friday morning, NCAA senior vice president of basketball, Dan Gavitt, promised to do better.
“I apologize to the female student-athletes, coaches and committee for dropping the ball on the weight room issue in San Antonio, we will fix this as soon as possible,” said Gavitt.
NCAA vice president of women’s basketball, Lynn Holzman, said on Friday that the organization is reviewing how to adjust square footage and provide more training opportunities.
Hill explained to CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith” on Friday that the quick response was revealing.
“When they got caught and this video went viral, suddenly, in 24 hours, they changed their mind,” said Hill, who hosts the Spotify podcast “Jemele Hill is Unbothered”. “Money has always been there. Money is not the problem. The problem is that they don’t think these women are worth it.”
ESPN has a $ 500 million 14-year contract through the academic year 2023-24 with the NCAA for expanded rights to 24 college championships, including ongoing coverage of the women’s first division basketball tournament.
Hill told presenter Shepard Smith that, in the future, the NCAA should “do everything it can to show that it takes women’s sport seriously, because that looks even worse, given the fact that the background of this is that it is the Women’s History Month “.
NCAA representatives were not immediately available on Friday to respond to Hill’s comments.